


A syndrome called you

by Gigi_Bell



Series: Criminal/Mafia [4]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, Drugs, Gangs, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Manipulation, Obsessive Behavior, Organized Crime, Possessive Behavior, Romance, Smut, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:54:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 20
Words: 40,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28055718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gigi_Bell/pseuds/Gigi_Bell
Summary: By the time Baekhyun sees Chanyeol again, it’s two years later, and he finds himself stuck in the back of an FBI van glaring at his ex-boyfriend for fucking up once again.(In which they’re well known gang members, lovers, and both are too psychotic for society. And it all began over a candy bar.)
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Series: Criminal/Mafia [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055231
Comments: 9
Kudos: 82





	1. Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mochitiger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochitiger/gifts).



> This work is solely mine, I do not allow stories to be posted on any other site, and any translations that are done will be posted here on my own page, I don’t allow my works to be posted under any other accounts.

  
  
Baekhyun sent a flirty grin as a waiter walked by, grabbing the glass of champagne off the tray and continuing his walk around the casino.

According to the information he had been told, a big drug deal was supposed to be going down soon, and his boss would be livid if he wasn’t there to receive it.

His entire spot in the gang rode on this deal, he wouldn’t fucking lose it.

Licking the champagne off his lips he adjusted the deep cut of his shirt to expose more, keeping the half smirk on his face with a hazy eye smile.

He’d be damned not to play it up.

The more he flirted the closer he was to figuring out which one of these people had it.

“Well, well, look at you, doll.”

Baekhyun chewed his lip as he took a seat on the gambling table, “Sehun.” He greeted softly, eyes widening in slight realization, watching the man throw some chips onto the table before looking up at him with an appreciative smirk, eyeing him.

Fuck. That meant Chanyeol was here, he realized.

“Looking good. A bit thinner than I remember, don’t tell me you’ve been digging in a stash? Huh, babe?”

His eye twitched and Sehun winked, Baekhyun cursed under his breath and tried to stand nonchalant as he took another drink of his champagne.

Not only was his old gang here, but they were looking for the same shit as him.

No way was this possible. Just his goddamn luck.

He stood up only to drape himself across Sehun's lap in order to look around the table.

The man seemed to not find his actions suspicious at all, just wrapping his arm loosely around his waist and continuing his game over his shoulder.

Directly across was Jongin, leaning back with a smirk and Baekhyun couldn't help the irritated sigh that left his mouth.

“I like your choice in men, Sehun,” He cooed, staring at Baekhyun like he knew way more than Baekhyun did.

Fuck he hated when the assassin did that.

“Right?” Sehun teased, placing a playful hand on Baekhyun's thigh, rapping fingers over the leather of his pants.

“You go any higher I’ll cut your dick off,” Baekhyun whispered, lips brushing against Sehun's hair in what onlookers probably saw as affectionate, “What the fuck are you doing here? Who’s all here? Leave. This is my deal.”

Sehun tsked, turning to press his lips below Baekhyun's ear and lingering fingers into the array of necklaces sitting on his bare chest, “All of us, honey. Sorry, but you can’t get rid of us now. This is ours, Chanyeol wants it. What he wants, he gets. You should remember that well. I gave you a choice onc-"

"Don't you fucking remind me," Baekhyun sneered, grabbing Sehun's wrist tightly, "You think I don't fucking remember?"

"Well.. I always expected you to forget, you're good at only paying attention to shit you like. Always were.. destructive, spoiled, what a princess. I would think you'd grow out of it with time."

"The only thing.." Baekhyun turned to wrap his arm around the back of Sehun's neck warningly, but what probably looked sweet, "I'm growing out of is your fucking tone. I would also think you would grow out of childish jealousy.. but here you are."

Sehun only tightened his arm around Baekhyun's waist, pulling the smaller closer to his chest and leaning up to look at him with a slight smirk, "Your anger only gets more attractive with time, did you know? Your ego must hurt so badly right now, almost feel bad for you, babe."

Baekhyun gritted his teeth. “Two years and still the same asshole,” he grumbled, giving a quiet huff as he stood up, grabbing Sehun's glass on his way away from the table and leaving the man alone, staring at his back with a sigh.

His rage didn’t last long though, as he approached a cage of roosters fighting he was unsurprised by the man to his right, wide eyed and carefully watching the animals.

He wondered if Kyungsoo noticed him, but he always did.

“Been wondering when you’d come around,” Kyungsoo mumbled, eyes not even flicking towards him.

Baekhyun turned to shove his glass uninterestedly onto a waiter's tray as they came by before twining his fingers around the cold metal, “How long have you been here?”

“About twenty minutes, you were busy cozying up in some old pervers lap when we got here. Have fun with that?”

“A blast, nothing like getting felt up by someone who can’t even get a boner,” Baekhyun drawled boredly.

Kyungsoo chuckled and finally looked away from the fighting to reach over and grab his arm, walking him away from the fight, “Missed you, Baek.”

Baekhyun licked his lips as Kyungsoo pulled him around, nervous, but the warmth in his chest was undeniable, “Yeah. Missed you guys.”

“Could always come with us, we have a ride wait-“

“Let me stop you there.”

Kyungsoo didn’t say much more and Baekhyun didn’t either because the cat like eyes surveying him from the table called for his attention, and finally he was home with his family.

Well, most of them.

Even after all this time Minseok still looked at him like he was in trouble, a glass raised to his mouth and Jongdae had his feet up on the white clothed table.

Yixing always had a nice smile, but it looked really bright.

Junmyeon raised a brow at him and Baekhyun practically scattered to lean over the table and take a deep breath.

It was a lot.

And he wondered if they were upset.

He had left without a word to them, but two years did wonders for people.

His hands pressed down onto the table and he sighed, feeling like everything was crumbling under his feet.

“Come on, kitty cat. Don’t pretend you aren’t happy to see us,” Jongdae chirped.

Baekhyun laughed, swallowing hard because that really wasn’t the problem, quite the opposite really.

He missed them, but he was fucked if he didn’t win this over.

Chanyeol didn’t need to have everything he ever wanted.

“You need to leave,” He breathed, shoulders tense.

Junmyeon laughed, “You know we can’t do that, Baek.”

Baekhyun's spine stiffened as he stood straight up, “You do not understand,” He hissed under his breath, “My boss will have my fucking head. I need you to leave and pretend you never heard shit. Tell your boss it was all fake, there was no deal here. Please.”

They did look apologetic, but Minseok shook his head instantly, “Heard you were a rookie. Also heard you were in some kind of trouble. Really been demoted, baby face.”

“I don’t work for anyone anymore,” He hissed.

The look that was sent to him was apologetic, and when Yixing tugged his wrist to place him into his lap Baekhyun went easily, sighing as he wrapped his arm around the man’s neck.

“Word travels fast, especially when we keep track of you,” Jongin crooned as he strolled over, golden skin on show as he threw his winning cash into the table, “Buy yourself something nice, gorgeous.” He winked, leaning over the back of Yixing’s chair.

Gritting his teeth as he eyed the money he wanted to scoff, tell Jongin he did not fucking need or want the money.

Because there was a time he didn't need it.

His anger was increasing because he wasn't as fucking good at his job as he once was and did want their money. What a fucking shit show.

Baekhyun licked his lips and looked around the room at the small amount of people suddenly looking their way, interested in what they were doing.

They must have looked suspicious all sitting at a gambling table doing nothing but talking inside a casino known to house criminals.

He couldn’t blow his cover and have them think into it too much.

“Thank you, babe,” He cooed, pressing their noses together briefly.

He’d rather onlookers think he was a whore than ready to shoot up this place for those fucking drugs.

Baekhyun climbed out of the chair quickly after Jongin sighed into his cheek, stomach twisting nervously because he knew what was next, and wasn’t ready.

“Why would you keep track of me when not one of you gave a fuck when I left?”

Nobody answered right away, looking sheepish and uncomfortable, or downing a bunch of alcohol as Jongdae opted.

Sehun yanked his wrist and Baekhyun hated when he pulled him around like that, but spun around anyway, met with hands grabbing his hips and pulling him closer in what to others probably looked like a dance, his spine stood stick still.

“Relax.” Sehun whispered into his ear, “Just talking. You like to stay under the radar. I’m playing your game now.”

Baekhyun did like to sneak around and think things through before shooting. He supposed he should thank them for having not shot up the place by now because he knew how they did shit.

“Code, we couldn’t look for you because you know it’s against code. You wanted out. We couldn’t drag you back in, we still can’t, it’s your own choice.”

He gritted his teeth as he looked at Sehun, faces only centimeters apart, “And what if I wanted you guys to look for me? You didn’t care. Not at all.”

Sehun looked rightfully pissed off at his words, because rationally Baekhyun knew they abided by the code seriously.

But he felt betrayed they hadn’t come for him. Or talk to him.

Considering everyone’s affection towards him, he felt entitled to at least a call, regardless of his and their previous boss’ falling out.

Maybe he should have just chosen one of them instead.

But no, his fucking heart chose Chanyeol, and look where that got him - with a bounty on his head and a list of jobs to do to make up for a simple mistake.

Sehun's hand curled around the nape of his neck and he knew he should pull away from him, because he was pissed off, but he saw a security guard walking around over Sehun's shoulder and supposed this was the best option to hide their faces.

“Sehun,” He whispered, flicking his eyes slightly and Sehun didn’t even check, it was weird that two years hadn’t changed how well their gang read their body language.

Sehun was pressing his lips hard onto his, hands squeezing his waist and slowly working up his body while Baekhyun toyed with the ends of his hair.

Instantly Baekhyun had a tongue prodding his bottom lip softly, hot breath meeting his own and sighed because it’d been a long, long time since he’d kissed anyone.

Not that he and Sehun had kissed before, and it did make him feel guilty because he knew they wanted him, all of them.

But they were never who he wanted.

It was the sad truth and they all knew it.

“Fuck,” Sehun whispered against his lips and Baekhyun pulled his lips away with a quiet noise and a breathy huff.

“Guards been gone about a minute now. You gonna greet me just as nicely, baby doll?”

Baekhyun felt his hair stand on end and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to the center of Sehun's chest.

It was entirely unfair for his body to betray him simply at the growling tone of voice, a deep chilling voice that made his toes curl up.

_“Chanyeol.”_


	2. Debt

Baekhyun felt dramatic, but the first thing on his mind was to run from the voice, releasing Sehun at the speed of light and blindly turning to walk straight into a solid body.

“Fuck.” He whispered.

Chanyeol’s arm came around his waist, curling around him and instantly pulling him away.

His ex was always strong, always, so even if Baekhyun wanted he knew Chanyeol wasn’t going to release him, so he didn’t bother trying.

“Having fun all night, have you?”

Chanyeol’s voice was laced with jealousy, Baekhyun grinded his teeth as he was led around, and as soon as the opportunity was given, he reached out to grab onto the fighting cages, looking down at them as an excuse to not have to look at Chanyeol.

The man only stopped his own journey and pressed into his back, so much so that Baekhyun's chest was cold with the bar he was being pushed against, familiar body heat at his spine and he couldn’t help his thoughts from remembering every curve he could feel in great detail.

Every muscle that was once under his palms whenever, wherever he wanted.

Fingers tracing tattoos - ones for him.

“A lot of fun. Probably would have fucked him too, didn't know Sehun was that great of a kisser. Wish I would have known that five years ago.” He spat over his shoulder.

Five years ago when they had just gotten together, when he finally chose who he loved went unsaid, but Chanyeol's deep breath of air fluffed his hair and he knew the man recalled exactly what he was referring to.

“Five years ago I recall a pretty mouth against mine, sweet body in my bed, can you remember, kitten?”

Of fucking course he remembered, but he wouldn’t give Chanyeol the satisfaction. “Five years ago I made a mistake it seems.”

That must have hurt because Chanyeol pressed him even tighter against the cage, leaning down so Baekhyun could see the red of his hair from the corner of his eye.

He loved red.

He also loved the possessive hand around his hip, familiar ones that could hold his throat closed if he wanted - if Baekhyun wanted, because Chanyeol was dangerous, murderous, and had a lust for anything Baekhyun.

But Baekhyun right now was riddled with nothing but hatred for the hand on his hip, almost as if reliving empty promises once again, screaming matches that had his throat aching afterwards.

“Didn’t sound that way. Nothing but squeals from those soft lips, baby.”

“Bet you get a lot of high pitched squeals from your bitch, fucker.” Baekhyun was tired of playing games, annoyed as he shoved back against Chanyeol to turn around.

The cage rattled slightly behind him and he knew they probably had a few odd looks, at this point Baekhyun would rather someone call the fucking cops for recognizing them than let Chanyeol fuck with his heart again.

“Hm. Maybe I would,” Chanyeol clicked his tongue and Baekhyun hated that even after two years when Chanyeol's breath fanned his forehead he was instantly closing his eyes expecting a kiss. “But said bitch is dead.”

Baekhyun scoffed, brows furrowing in anger, “So what? Bitch got killed and now what? You want me? Two years and you think I’d want you? Fuck you, I don’t need you or your fucking gang. I’m on my own now and it’s no thanks to you, you fucking cheat.”

He shoved Chanyeol to the side and started towards the door, knowing there were heavy footsteps following behind him and curses being thrown as he walked faster.

Baekhyun dug into his pocket and snatched his keys, climbing into his car but Chanyeol grabbed the door, placing his hand on the inside and yanking it open, “Goddamn it. Listen to me, Baekhyun. I’m trying to talk to you.”

“What? After two years?” Baekhyun laughed mockingly, giving the door a tug, but still Chanyeol was much stronger, “For fucksake! Leave me alone you cheating asshole!”

He must have sounded more emotional rather than the angry sound he wanted to go for because Chanyeol's face faltered, but his brow perked in determination, “Baby-“

“Don’t fucking call me that!” Baekhyun leaned over the steering wheel to cover his face, he wasn’t crying, he wouldn’t cry in front of this asshole, but his shoulders shook, “Stop, stop. Chanyeol, leave me alone.”

“Please,” He added, whispering.

Chanyeol gulped, swallowing hard but fingers tight around the doorframe despite Baekhyun no longer trying to slam it. “Fuck. I’m sorry, I know. I know it’s been a long time. I’m sorry, I have a lot to explain, baby doll, I’m - I’m so sorry. Baekhyun, kitten, I’m trying to talk to you so please listen, listen and I’ll leave you alone. Please.”

Baekhyun thought about it for merely one second before he came to his conclusion.

“Go to hell,” He barked, lifting his head, “You think you can apologize now? Two years later? Fuck you. Get your hands off my car before I beat the shit out of you.”

He wouldn’t do it, but he must have caught Chanyeol off guard because he was able to shove his hand away from the door and slam it, locking it manually before turning the car on.

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol yelled, hitting his window.

Baekhyun felt his eyes water and threw his head back in exasperation as he heard metal denting and opened his eyes to Chanyeol standing directly on the hood of his car.

They both knew Baekhyun wouldn’t dare hurt Chanyeol, so he didn’t even bother threatening to do so.

He only lifted a hand to release a dry cry into his palm, watching Chanyeol take a seat in front of the windshield, spreading his arms wide, “Come on, baby! You hate me, do it! Do it!”

His voice was muffled through the glass and Baekhyun pressed his forehead into the dashboard.

“I love you, it’s you. It’s always been. That bitch is gone, I lied to you, Baekhyun! I lied and I fucking love you! Okay! I never touched her! Ever! It’s always been you, and only you!

I thought… thought you’d come back, but you never did! I never left you, I’ve been watching over you, baby, okay? But… I-I heard you fucked up, Baekhyun, and I need you safe, so come back with us!”

Safe, Baekhyun scoffed, because Chanyeol didn't ever really understand what that word meant. They used to sleep with a gun under their bed, fuck on the floor with knives nearby, storm into buildings littered with security.

Chanyeol didn't know what safe was, because Baekhyun always felt safer with him than without.

“You looked me in the eyes…” Baekhyun cried, sitting up to look out the windshield, “You looked me in the eyes and said you were fucking her! You said that, and you broke my heart! No! Leave me alone!”

“I can explain! I have explanations and it was a deal, baby! Kitten…”

Baekhyun blanked out the various nicknames Chanyeol was spewing as headlights reflected off the front mirror into his vision.

His lips parted as he watched a white van pull up right behind his car, only a few parking spaces down.

Finally he could pay off his debt if what he assumed was inside... was.


	3. Drugs

Baekhyun jumped out of the car, truthfully forgetting all about the man begging for his affection as he started walking towards the van, fingers curling around the gun in his pocket.

“Baekhyun! Babe!”

A hand curled around his wrist and Baekhyun growled, twisting Chanyeol's arm behind his back, “Stop fucking touching me,” He ordered, holding the man’s wrist between his shoulder blades.

Baekhyun should have expected it to go wrong considering Chanyeol’s the one that taught him the move, because the man had him pinned in record time.

Maybe even better than their practice matches.

He had both elbows crossed at his hips and Chanyeol pressing into his spine holding his wrists by his hip bones.

Baekhyun threw his head back in hopes he’d catch Chanyeol's nose but of course the man was ahead of him and he missed, giving a frustrated noise before attempting to kick backwards, stomping on Chanyeol's feet.

“Baby! Sh, stop fighting. I’m not going to fight you. I won’t hit you, Baekhyun!” Chanyeol argued against Baekhyun obvious want to hit him, or at least injure him so he’d leave him alone, “Knock that shit-“

He was cut off by the sound of clicking and then suddenly Baekhyun saw a small, circular item on the ground yards away where his car was.

His mouth opened, “Grenade!”

Orange flashed in his vision.

He coughed, rolling onto his side on the pavement with a groan.

_“Hands up!”_

_“Weapons on the ground! Hands up!”_

Fuck. Someone recognized them in the casino.

Well, Baekhyun was just fucked all over it seemed.

_“Hands behind your head! Don’t move!”_

Baekhyun was yanked from the ground and he groaned, feeling like his brain was rattling around in his head and swore he could feel warmth dripping onto his lips.

He was shoved roughly into the side of a vehicle, cringing at the intense headache he had.

“Baekhyun! Baby! Hey, I’ll kill you! Get your fucking hands off him! Get your hands off!”

His eyes popped open despite wanting to calm his headache with a nap and he saw Chanyeol barking at the group of swat surrounding him, ordering and demanding.

He looked rather unaffected by the grenade, and even when his head was slammed into the back of the car to keep him down as they cuffed him, he looked unphased.

“You motherfuckers! Just wait till I get my hands on you! You’re all dead! All fucking dead! You fuck-“

Baekhyun screamed when he saw Chanyeol go limp, taser stuck to his chest and flailed, turning around to the unsuspecting cop and kicking him straight in the stomach.

He made it a good two feet in his run towards Chanyeol before being tackled to the ground.

Only this time, when his head hit the ground it was all black, not orange.

  
~~~~~~

“- nd we’re going to kick their asses, baby doll. Swear, gonna get you out of here before you even have to see-“

Baekhyun groaned, the noise sounding more of a whine than he’d like as he felt his head was spinning when he opened his eyes.

His vision blurred in and out for a second before they focused on Chanyeol directly across from him, wrist cuffs connected to a chain on the middle of the van floor.

Baekhyun sniffed and tasted iron as he looked down at himself and found his own shackled to the ground also.

His eyes flashed around and saw to his right was a small window where he assumed the driver could see them but other than that there wasn’t much else to see.

“Your nose is bleeding. And your temple is bruised, it’s killing me, Baek. I'm going to kill them.”

If there was one thing that made him fall for Chanyeol in the first place it was always how sweet he could make the sickest of comments sound.

“They tased you. Got tackled,” Baekhyun murmured, more of a whisper as he felt the blood drying uncomfortably around his lips and nose.

“Got tackled because of me?”

“Because I’m an idiot who shouldn’t give a fuck about you.”

Chanyeol grinned, the only sign he was even a little roughed up was the bruising on his chest, “So you do care about me. I love you too, baby doll.”

Baekhyun chose to ignore him in favor of leaning over his lap to rest his head between his knees to try and still his head spinning, but the van moving didn't help at all and he found himself feeling sicker by the minute.

He was slowly moving more and more down to the floor of the van anyways, trying to find somewhere to keep his brain from rattling around so much to no avail.

“Fuck.” He didn’t bother to look up even when he felt Chanyeol’s foot brush his. “That explosion got you good, stay awake, baby. You probably have a concussion, keep those pretty eyes on me.”

Baekhyun wasn’t even looking at him anymore, but followed the instructions anyways, turning his head to rest his cheek onto his knee.

“Stay awake. You’ve had worse than this, gorgeous. You can take it. I know you, you can handle it.”

Baekhyun still wasn’t forgiving anything, but he wanted nothing more than to curl up in Chanyeol's arms and let the man soothe his pain.

Because, admittedly, the man was always good at doing so. Even when he was the cause of it.

“Been awhile since I’ve been this fucked up, huh?” Baekhyun whispered, wiping his nose into his knee.

Chanyeol chuckled softly, licking his lips with a slight nod, “Awhile, but not for much longer, beautiful. I’m gonna find a way to get us out.”

Baekhyun believed him.


	4. Ethereal

It must have been hours they sat here until the van stopped moving.

Chanyeol kept having to nudge him when his eyes drooped, leaning over and brushing fingers over his hair, cooing at him and speaking nonsense that Baekhyun didn’t give any fucks about.

But he had yet to lose consciousness so that was a plus.

“Hey. I think they’re stopping for gas?” Chanyeol murmured, standing up to look through the rectangle hole but basically standing just as high as he was sitting because these weren’t meant to stand in.

“No way.” Baekhyun croaked.

“I don’t know, they're stopping for something. Maybe we’re at a transfer station, it looks dark as fuck out though.”

Baekhyun frowned, “They're not just leaving us in here all night are they? That’s inhumane.”

“We’re wanted criminals with records longer than our lifespan, I don’t think they give a fuck about us.”

Well, Chanyeol got him there.

He laughed under his breath and gave a small nod, moving to lay on the floor in order for him to have more slack on his shackles.

Chanyeol followed his example moments later, and it was painfully awkward trying not to touch when there was only about three feet from one side of the van to the other, their shoulders were pressed together painfully.

“Really love you, Baekhyun.”

The breath Baekhyun exhaled was choked, rolling over onto his side so his back was to Chanyeol, arms shackled painfully at that angle but he laid there anyways, resting his cheek on the cold metal.

“Really,” Was murmured against his hair and he felt Chanyeol move closer to curve against his spine, “I killed her myself, baby. Shot her point blank only a week after you left, I was so… devastated. Should have never told you that. Lied like that.”

“Why did you do this to me?” Baekhyun muttered, breath coming out shaky.

He could still remember it.

Still pictured the anger in Chanyeol’s eyes when Baekhyun questioned him a million times.

He thought their job had been a simple robbery, a mansion a few towns over, but when his boyfriend brought back some girl that was all over him, Baekhyun was rightfully pointing a gun at her.

Chanyeol had never given a fuck who he killed before, much less someone for touching his boyfriend - Chanyeol was the same way over Baekhyun being touched too - but he did this time.

Three years together so Baekhyun demanded answers, why Chanyeol was sheltering her.

It hadn’t ended well. At all.

In fact, it was a full blown screaming match, both of their insecurities bubbling to the surface and Chanyeol knew Baekhyun had abandonment issues and threw them in his face, but that wasn’t the hard part.

The hard part was Chanyeol's yell that cut his heart out, _“Because she’s my girl, okay! She’s mine and she has been for a long time!”_

Never had he possibly thought Chanyeol to be with anyone else, but his jaw fell slack.

 _“We’ve been fucking, and you’ve just been blind!”_ Chanyeol had growled, _“You're always so blind, Baekhyun!”_

Blind on trust, Baekhyun recalled, because he loved Chanyeol so much. What a mistake.

A mistake of holding Chanyeol's mind in his hands and leading him to a better, richer life.

When Baekhyun first looked at him, analyzed him, he knew Chanyeol would do big things, dangerous and horrible things - ones Baekhyun wanted to be a part of, orchestrate.

Because he was good at it.

That was the last thing he said to Chanyeol, that he was a mistake, and he was right - Baekhyun must have been an idiot to ever think someone like him had a heart.

Because a person with a heart wouldn’t shatter another’s to pieces like he had done to Baekhyun. Baekhyun who loved him even when they were on the run, who held his hand when Chanyeol had twelve stitches running down his chest.

Who kissed his skin and wiped the blood off of it. Watching Chanyeol throw a match into buildings, cheering him on and jumping onto his back.

Stealing from the most prestigious places and promising himself to him when Chanyeol looked near exhausted, lost without his instruction.

He praised Chanyeol for working so hard, stepping over bodies and a gunshot through his arm and Baekhyun still had the energy to praise him, to instruct him, to love him.

Yeah. A mistake, he mused.

Out of eight choices, Baekhyun made the wrong one.

Sehun should have been it, almost was, and that was purely Baekhyun's heart that couldn’t accept him when it was sitting in Chanyeol’s palms since the day they met.

“She knew where Seungri was hiding, that was his daughter, Baek.. I couldn’t just… couldn’t tell you that or you would have killed her before I had a chance, and I couldn’t have blamed you… but, baby. I killed her for you, tracked down Seungri and gutted him for you. It took a while, he jumped around like a rabbit, but I wasn’t going to let him go easy after what… what was done to you.”

Baekhyun gritted his teeth and scrunched his fingers together, eyes unwillingly filling with tears because even the slightest reminder crawled under his skin.

A glass of whiskey on a mission turned into hands on his skin and no memory of what happened to his own body.

It was a mission about money, not date rape, but Baekhyun learned it turned out to be both thanks to the man.

“You’re mine. You’re always going to be mine, and I’m always going to protect what’s mine,” Chanyeol muttered.

Baekhyun licked his lips and hated the immediate warmth that filled him when Chanyeol draped a leg over his hip, wasn’t much protection, but it was the thought that counted.

Because even now he never felt an ounce of concern for what Chanyeol would do to him.

To his heart, maybe, but feelings were secondary to physical wounds - or at least that what Baekhyun tried to convince himself all these years. (It never worked for even a moment.)

“Used to think you were once mine too.” He said under his breath, “Doesn’t change a thing, Chanyeol. I hate you.”

What a lie.

Either way, Chanyeol buried his nose into the nape of his neck and Baekhyun swallowed hard when the man pressed a kiss to the skin, “Yeah. Yeah, I know. I know, and I love you. I’m yours. Never wasn’t.”

Baekhyun didn’t respond, just leaving his palms under his cheek so Chanyeol wouldn’t see them shake.

It didn’t matter, the metal rattling gave him away anyway.

  
~~~~~~

“Hey, need you to wake up.”

“Baek, wake up. Need your help, babe. Come on, doll face.”

“Gorgeous. Bambi, open those eyes. I have an idea.”

Baekhyun groaned, never having even realized he had fallen asleep in the first place, tongue running across his lips and reminded of where he was solely because of the iron on his tongue.

He brought his wrists up, tried to wipe the dried, flaking blood off his lip where it was sitting uncomfortably, but unable to bring them up high enough, he sighed.

“Hey, get up, kitten, got an idea.”

Baekhyun nodded sharply, eyes dazed with sleep as he sat up, knees practically in Chanyeol's lap from being so smushed together, “How… how long was I out?”

“Not long. They aren’t back yet, but I have an idea.” Chanyeol mustered up. “Take my belt off, tried to get it while you were asleep, but the angle is weird, can’t lift my arms past my knees. Not as flexible as you, angel.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Baekhyun scoffed, “You want a blowjob? Right now?”

His brain wasn’t working right now enough to think over Chanyeol's reasoning, but if he did he knew it would have been good, because he was positive the man knew if Baekhyun went anywhere near his dick right now he was going to maul him.

Not really, but Baekhyun used to try to say that’s what would happen if he ever saw Chanyeol again.

“No, but thanks for the offer, I’ll take you up on it once our asses are out of here,” Chanyeol joked before snorting, “But really, get it off and we can try to saw at the chains, there’s always a weak spot on these things.”

“And then what?”

“Let’s play it by ear,” Chanyeol murmured, standing up only to take a seat on his bench, “Lets see if you’re out of shape, baby fox, see if you still have moves.”

Baekhyun's eyes lit up at the challenge because he was never one to back down.

But if you told him he’d be kneeling between Chanyeol’s legs a week ago, he’d have shot point blank with a muffled growl that you were insane and he did you a favor.

“Don’t even want to know what you’ve been up to in order to be able to do that still,” Chanyeol breathed heavily, watching Baekhyun contort in order to get closer.

“Get down here a little, on your knees, I can’t reach,” Baekhyun ordered, sitting down on his knees and kneeling so he sat on his elbows, knowing how promiscuous he looked because Chanyeol's looked pissed, good.

Baekhyun wasn’t going to tell him he was still the last person who touched him, didn’t want him to have the satisfaction.

Once Chanyeol was on his knees it was easier for Baekhyun to go under the chains and found his face at eye level with the man’s belt.

When he looked up Chanyeol gave him a huge smirk and he rolled his eyes, because he didn’t need to be reminded how many times in the past he was in this exact spot, with much less clothes.

“Wipe your face clean. Never touching you ever again,” Baekhyun growled, taking Chanyeol’s belt between his teeth and pushing the end towards the clasp to try and pop it out.

Real leather was thicker, and he only now realized how promising this idea was when he also realized how smug it was sitting inside the golden buckle.

He huffed and tried to bring his hands up, but only was able to get them to rest on Chanyeol's thigh.

For fucksake, he internally grumbled, whatever to get out, he reminded himself, pressing his face closer, harder, neck straining as he grabbed onto the leather in the clasp instead of trying to push it open with the excess piece of leather.

“Fuck, look so good, baby. Doing so well.”

Baekhyun pretended not to hear the deep, rumbling tone that let him know Chanyeol was very much  
enjoying this.

He grunted in response, digging his teeth deep into the leather, pulling it from the clasp.

He grinned, now all he had to do was pull it through and get the metal out of the belt hole so it would move.

His first instinct was to look up at Chanyeol for approval, but when he was met with a small, fond grin he looked away, licking his lips and dropping his forehead onto the floor because there was no way Chanyeol didn’t notice he was looking for his praise.

Fuck. He was so transparent.

“Don’t worry, I can get it from here.”

Baekhyun frowned, sitting back on his heels at Chanyeol's words only to gawk, “You said you couldn’t reach past your knees!” He cried, watching Chanyeol fumble with the belt that was damp with his saliva.

Chanyeol smirked, “Thought you’d look way better doing it though. And I was right. Would have preferred your face not be dried with blood, but either way yours is still my favorite face to see. Always so fucking ethereal. Proud of you, babe.”

Despite his thoughts that were telling him to rip Chanyeol a new one for being such a selfish jerk, Baekhyun laughed.


	5. Trouble

“I know what we’re going to do.”

Baekhyun hummed, scratching at his bench seat and listening to the sound of Chanyeol grinding away at his chain.

Looking up he saw a bead of sweat drip down the man’s brow from all his effort, either end of the belt held tightly in his hands as he sawed back and forth at a thinner piece of metal between his hands, feet pushed together to hold the shackles out of the way.

He was sawing hard enough to start a fire and knew Chanyeol would get out within the next few minutes because he was always good at picking up weaknesses.

The irony.

“Gonna get these fuckers off,” Chanyeol grunted, “Get you out, baby. And then that window, see it?”

Baekhyun looked at the rectangle shaped window that was where the drivers would be and nodded, “Yeah.”

“Gonna strangle the driver.”

His brow perked in surprise, “You think your hands could fit through there? Please, there’s no way.”

“They’ve fit in smaller places, huh? You wanna take a trip down memory lane, tiny?” Chanyeol's lip perked up as his eyes flashed to Baekhyun's, licking his lips, “Don’t pretend not to, always so loud for me, baby doll.”

Baekhyun felt his ears turn red and was angered at his own reaction, but it was much better than what he actually wanted to do, “Don’t be cocky. I’ll sooner bite your dick off than relive memories.”

“Hey, at least that’s something, eh?”

The corner of Baekhyun's lip perked up in amusement, glad Chanyeol was too busy looking back at what he was doing to notice the vulnerability.

They always did share the same sick sense of humor, it wasn’t surprising, Baekhyun just wished he wasn’t so attracted to it still.

“No, but really. I’m gonna use the belt,” Chanyeol explained, “grab around his throat, if I do it fast enough it’ll snap his neck and then his partner won’t have any idea what hit him until I was on him too, before he can call for backup hopefully.”

“And how do we get out the doors? There’s no way we can from this side of the van, Yeol.”

A popping noise sounded before the sound of metal hitting the bottom of the van.

Baekhyun was unable to hide his smile as Chanyeol gave him a flirtatious smirk and raised his hands to show off the now unconnected handcuffs on his wrists, “Pretty hot. Right? Wanna fuck real quick?” He teased.

Baekhyun snickered, shifting to put his arms out, “Me next. Get on with it, muscles.”

Chanyeol grinned, half of his mouth sitting higher than the other when he gave such a smile, and Baekhyun had half a mind to wonder if he was simply pulling out all tricks in order to make his heart race.

But he was reminded Chanyeol just always had a lot that made him feel like this.

“Didn’t answer me, hotshot.”

“Not sure yet,” Chanyeol answered reluctantly, focusing on getting Baekhyun's hands out next, but looking up at him with sweat beading down his temple and a serious look, “But I’ll get you out. Always will, baby boy.”

Baekhyun had no doubt about it, clenching his jaw so he didn’t say something ridiculous and giving a stiff nod.

“Never gonna leave you to fend for yourself,” Chanyeol mumbled under his breath, eyes going back to finding a weak spot to saw at.

His calloused palms touched Baekhyun's as he unneededly looked around the chains.

He very much didn’t need to touch him at all, but Baekhyun didn’t say anything.

He mumbled something else, but Baekhyun didn’t catch it, busy analyzing Chanyeol while he had the chance, “What was that? Didn’t catch it.”

His ex was never one to be shy or even nervous, always confident and never faltering.

Another reason Baekhyun thought they got along well because he also wasn’t one to beat around the bush too long.

There was no need for bashfulness in their world.

But, he’d make an exception for being attracted to the emotion just this once, because Chanyeol’s eyes were shy, nervous, “I said I wasn’t going to be a mistake to you. Not again.”

Baekhyun realized then, that maybe Chanyeol hadn’t been spared from all the hurt he had assumed.

Maybe he had broken the man’s heart in the process.

Was it karma for Chanyeol’s lying? Maybe.

Did that make it okay? No.

Breaking someone’s heart was never okay, Baekhyun knew as much now.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Baekhyun whispered softly, “Get me out of here, crazy.”

The old nickname was more than enough for Chanyeol to beam with confidence, not even a cocky or even teasing smile, just relieved.

His shoulders looked more relaxed despite nothing being cleared between them.

“I’ll get you out, kitten.”

  
~~~~~~

_“Get these fuckers where they belong.”_

Baekhyun licked his lips as they listened to the two guards get back into the van, raising his head with a slight smirk across at Chanyeol.

_“Jared said they were surprised how easy it was. Said the small one bit him three months ago in a raid, almost got the bitch.”_

“Oh, baby,” Chanyeol clicked his tongue, corner of his mouth pulled up as he licked his lips, eyes hooded, “My fucking fox. You back to biting?”

“If you cage me in,” He whispered, sending a grin his way. “Got sharp teeth.” Baekhyun cooed, licking his canine dramatically.

Chanyeol groaned, shifting towards the middle row closer.

They were still pretending to be chained, hands holding the metal.

Didn’t look like either guards would be checking though, idiots.

“The more you talk to me, the more I want to risk you biting my dick off. The event of a lifetime, huh? Bet you’d like that.”

Baekhyun had no idea why he thought the words were sweet, because they most certainly were Chanyeol trying to get his dick in something, but he could relate.

And, if everything the man had said was true, he knew exactly how dry Chanyeol was running with sexual attention.

“That’s a better way to go than an old perve with hands on your jeans, I’d say.”

“I’ll be asking for a list when we get outta here. Everyone’s hands cut off, baby. Just for you, kitten. Nobody has a right to touch you but me. I’ll give you their hands in a gold plated bowl if you want.”

Baekhyun's breath caught as he chewed his lip and looked down to the van when it started moving.

In Chanyeol’s book it was as close as you could get to gifting flowers and candy for apology, to kill whoever made him uncomfortable.

Maybe Chanyeol would get more tattoo’s for him too after this, add to the uncountable list. Chanyeol’s hand ones were more faded now, he noticed, scars running through them.

He wondered if the ones under his clothes were just as faded.

Baekhyun had only been teasing, even though it was true he had been in some uncomfortable predicament the past two years - ones Chanyeol would have never assigned to him - but he could take care of himself.

Chanyeol, out of all people knew that as they spent many days in the training room together, skin slick with sweat and ending with bruises on each other’s skin - then lips connecting and cool air hitting skin.

He’d never lie and tell Chanyeol lies, even now.

Sure, he had petty things to say, but he never lied to him.

And the sex was the best he ever had in his life, the love they shared was so intense Chanyeol had once shot up a high stakes party and ruined their plans to steal a billion dollar necklace all because he didn’t like seeing Baekhyun dancing so close to a prestigious man.

That was Baekhyun's game, and he knew as much, it was how Baekhyun stole, to gain trust by giving pretty grins and running sweet hands over others, but even then, it was too much for Chanyeol who’d much rather just go all out or nothing at all.

Impatient, Baekhyun used to call him.

Also earned his nicknames easily, crazy because of the wild glint in his eyes when he had attention of shaking crowds, and trouble because of the way he made Baekhyun's heart race.

Chanyeol had stolen a police car once, purely because Baekhyun cooed that he thought i'd be so fucking hot, so Chanyeol wasn’t completely at fault for having ridiculous ideas though.

He just did whatever Baekhyun wanted - or whatever he thought protected Baekhyun best.

Fuck, his eyes felt heavy now as he thought about it.

He thought he was over everything because he hadn’t thought about it in two years, forced himself not to.

But that wasn’t the truth.

The truth was that they had so much fun together, best friends, that they had amazing adventures, that they had wonderful vacations and words they’d never tell anyone else.

Chanyeol was soft at heart, he woke up with swollen eyes and a dimpled smile, rolling over to pepper his hickey covered neck in soft kisses, whispering apologies for getting carried away, asking if he was sore.

It wasn’t fair that he could just… come back here like nothing with so many good things to tell him, valid excuses and sweet confessions.

But maybe it wasn’t fair Baekhyun had left without so much as a goodbye.

That he never looked back when Chanyeol was so stuck in the past and had regret seeping from his face everytime Baekhyun looked at him.

Confidence was not found in his smile when Baekhyun didn’t provide him any expression that told him he was allowed to feel that way.

“You ready?” Chanyeol's head ducked down to nudge the crown of Baekhyun's, barely even sitting on the edge of his bench to lean over and lay his head down into soft dark brown hair.

The contrast between their hair colors was beautiful in an almost sickening way, Baekhyun mused, reaching up to tangle his hand around the nape of Chanyeol's red locks.

He felt Chanyeol release a heavy breath, and just realized this was the first time he’d had contact with him in two years.

Chanyeol still felt the same and smelled of cinnamon and strong alcohol.

“Impress me, trouble.”


	6. Fuck

If there was one thing Chanyeol wanted to do it was impress Baekhyun.

Win back the gorgeous, fox like man.

So he took the opportunity instantly, a rush of adrenaline filling him purely because of the endearment Baekhyun had said in a soft, dulcet tone.

“I will,” He promised, pressing a kiss to Baekhyun's hair before the other man could argue a thing, carefully reaching down to set his chains on the ground so they didn’t make a noise.

They rattled slightly when the van jumped and his eyes widened, but he could hear the driver still talking and sighed in relief.

“You sure?”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Chanyeol whispered under his breath, looking between Baekhyun's eyes, “Always took care of you, baby fox. Not gonna stop now.”

Baekhyun looked shaken up and he knew it was his fault.

And he did feel guilty about it.

Maybe he should have just let him go, just let him move on.

But he couldn’t do that, not with the world they were in.

It felt arrogant to claim this much, but without him keeping tabs on Baekhyun he wasn’t sure if the other would have made it this long.

Not with their gang hanging over his head, definitely not when Chanyeol was made aware when and with who Baekhyun tried to get deals under. He wouldn't have that - that blatant unloyalty of his alliances if they accepted Baekhyun's services.

No. That meant they didn't respect him being in charge and he wouldn't allow that.

Plus, just their gangs name would have been enough for rivals to stray away from Baekhyun, hands to themselves and rejecting the man's promises to work for them.

Because Baekhyun was always Chanyeol's and it was known to all.

He wouldn’t tell Baekhyun that though, not about all the bounty hunters he’d taken out for him, because he knew it’d destroy his self esteem.

Chanyeol just wanted Baekhyun to be safe.

And he was safest with him.

_“- Yup! And then radio 84 clicked on and alerted them! Crew was pissed, we trailed those crackheads' days and they heard..”_

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, is this what swat talked about all the time?

Didn’t they have better things to do like find human traffickers? Bust drug lords?

Nah, they just spoke about drug addicts apparently.

He grabbed the belt in both hands, giving the leather ends a good twist so the middle had a bunch of slack.

Carefully, he stood up, and he swore he saw Baekhyun reach up as if to steady him when the van jumped again.

He wondered where they were, because the roads seemed rough.

He didn’t have time to think much though, he had one shot and tossed the middle part of the belt through the hole in the metal.

The black material went under the drivers chin and Chanyeol yanked, so hard the veins in his wrists stuck out.

In less than a minute events unfolded.

The driver struggled, gagging and before Chanyeol knew it the guard kneed the steering wheel and the van was drifting.

He didn’t think they were going that fast, it hadn’t felt like it when you couldn’t see outside, but Chanyeol was thrown into the side, forced to let go when the car rolled.

Metal crumbled and it was loud, piercing, his face hit the bench and he heard a crack, fuck, his nose stung... broken, again.

But, as soon as the van stopped rolling he could only hear breathing, heavy breathing - his own.

He cursed as the van was now upside down, his body was aching but otherwise he felt okay.

“Ch-Chanyeol, Ah, fuck! Chanyeol!”

His attention was instantly drawn to Baekhyun though, who was down by where the opening to the metal door was crumbled, a stream of light peeking through.

Only Baekhyun wasn’t looking just as unphased as him.

His leg was still under the bench, jeans caught one the chain that they had once been tied to, twisted at an odd angle since Baekhyun's shoulders and upper body were against the ceiling - now floor.

“Fuck. Baby, hold on, don’t move.” He ordered, scrambling over, the already small space compacted tighter as the metal was bent in, crouching down and moving so Baekhyun's upper body was in his lap, “Breathe. Breathe, gonna get you to safety.”

Chanyeol barely touched the leg and Baekhyun hissed in pain, but he had no choice and lifted it all at once - Baekhyun screamed and he knew the noise would haunt him along with the way Baekhyun's leather pants were tight against it and ripped.

Obviously broken, without even having to see it he could tell it was likely fractured because Baekhyun's jeans didn’t leave much to the imagination.

“F-Fuck! Fuck, fuck!”

“Hold on, I know, baby boy, I know. Just breathe.”

He’d seen Baekhyun in much worse pain, with open stab wounds and gunshots, but it never got easier.

Even when the other had a common cold and had to lay in bed all day without even a whine he always felt bad.

Imagine how he felt when Baekhyun was in this much pain in his arms - and it was his fault.

“Sh, sh. We gotta go,” Chanyeol's instincts to get the hell out of this space were kicking in the more Baekhyun yelled and cried out in pain because there was nowhere for him to place his leg down.

On the bright side he would probably go numb in a few moments with his hyperventilating.

Chanyeol’s chest ached as he laid Baekhyun flat onto the floor and slipped out behind him in order to lay on his back, “Sh. I know, I’m right here. Just breathe,” He cooed, sweat - or blood, he couldn’t tell - dripping down his chin as he kicked at the metal door.

It squealed, the crack not opening anymore and he growled because Baekhyun was in pain beside him and he was fucking tired of being a caged animal.

With a heavier kick he hit the door so hard the metal door slammed open, hitting the outside of the van and rattling.

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun yelled when the man started to crawl out.

“I’ll be right back! Just let me check if it’s safe! Don’t move!” He yelled.

He didn’t hear Baekhyun argue anything else and squinted as he was met by a bright light outside, grass under his palms.

It seemed they had landed in some sort of ditch, Chanyeol looked up the hill with a hand over his forehead and didn’t really see anything at all but trees.

Fuck.

They were likely on a backroad, he groaned because that meant the likeliness of any help was low.

Walking around the front he pried the drivers door open, cringing at the blood all over the windshield and the two guards that had glass all in their skin.

Gross, he internally grumbled, reaching over to search their pockets.

Seemed like luck was on their side because the first thing he found was a gun, he shoved it under the back of his jeans and glanced at the walkie talkie that was going off every few seconds, swat talking amongst each other.

It was only a matter of time before they’d be suspicious nobody was responding on their end.

Chanyeol huffed because he didn't find much else, stealing what cash was in their pockets just in case before shutting the door again.

“Okay. Baek, gonna get you out and set your leg, my love.” He knelt down back at the crumbled door.

Baekhyun looked absolutely tiny inside the crumbling van, turned around onto his chest and breathing heavily through his nose.

Trying to calm himself down, Chanyeol recognized.

“Wher-e are we?”

Chanyeol licked his lips and dug his hands under Baekhyun's arms, carefully dragging him out.

He heard Baekhyun hiss, but knew the wound was likely pins and needles at this point rather than excruciating.

“Got you, I got you. Not going to drop you,” Chanyeol soothed as he got Baekhyun into his arms, cradled at his chest, the other looked nervous being so high from the ground.

He’d held Baekhyun many times in the past, and had never once dropped him, if anything Baekhyun felt lighter than he remembered.

That was probably his fault too.

“Not sure what town, but the roads are empty. I have an idea.”

“Swat will come looking for us soon,” Baekhyun huffed out, laying his head onto Chanyeol's chest, leg dangling off the man’s arm, “I’ll slow you down. Just leave me.”

Chanyeol growled, holding Baekhyun higher towards his face, “Now that’s some stupid shit. Don’t you fucking think I’d leave you sitting here. I have a plan.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Just relax and enjoy the walk, gorgeous.”


	7. Go

“Shit. Just stay still.”

Baekhyun groaned as Chanyeol set him down, laying his back against a tree.

He had no idea how far Chanyeol had walked with him in his arms. At least a few miles.

Luckily the sun wasn’t really out and the sky was slightly clouded over so they didn’t need to worry too badly about the weather being an issue.

The issue was Baekhyun's bum leg.

“Okay. Let me take these off,” Chanyeol soothed, reaching for his jeans and unbuttoning them.

Baekhyun didn’t have it in him to fight or even argue because he could feel his leg throbbing and knew Chanyeol was trying to help.

Plus, leather was not something that was good to be in this long.

“Fuck!” He screamed when the leather stuck against his skin, Chanyeol didn’t even have them past his hips yet, but he was preparing for the pain, “Fuck! Talk about something! Talk!”

Distract me.

“Fuck, Uh.. I love you. I love you, so much. Please just breathe, don’t let this be another thing I can’t get out of my head, that I’ll have nightmares about. Let me fix it.”

Chanyeol sounded way more stressed out than him and Baekhyun cringed, breathing heavy as he laid his head back against the tree.

The tone made Baekhyun want to laugh under his breath, because it sounded so painful, and Chanyeol deserved to feel so guilty and regretful for what he's done to him.

“Just wait. I’m going to get you somewhere safe,” Baekhyun hissed a heavy breath over Chanyeol's cooes as the man got his pants down to his ankles.

At least the hard part was over.

Chanyeol sat up and pressed his lips against Baekhyun's temple for a second, a silent apology for the pain before removing his shoes and pulling the pants carefully off and to the side.

Normally, being this exposed in public was not on his to do list without prior talk, but they hadn’t seen a car come down this road hours. Not one their entire journey along the road until he felt Chanyeol’s arms shake and knew he needed a break.

“I- I needed those drugs,” Baekhyun groaned, looking down to see his left leg an array of colors.

He always had an odd thought that it was pretty the human body could create such colors under the skin, but fuck it hurt and his calf was already swollen.

“I heard you were in deep shit,” Chanyeol whispered, straightening out the leg before wadding up the jeans to elevate his leg, removing his own jacket to place under too.

Baekhyun laughed humorlessly, “Bout.. four months ago I was paid to kill this fuckers housewife,” He sighed, “So, you know, I did. Turns out this bitch was sleeping with the leader of Seaside Gate too, fucking whore. He didn't take too kindly to that and beat the shit out of me.”

“Heard you were jumping around a lot.”

“Trying to pay off my debt,” Baekhyun explained, “This was my last chance he said, it was the last thing I needed before I owed him nothing.”

Chanyeol sighed apologetically, running his hand gently over the purpling skin of Baekhyun's calf like he could take it away, “I’ll kill him. You don’t owe him anything, was wondering what all the talk was about though. Kept hearing your name on a shit ton of contracted kills, thought you were getting up there, baby. But I guess you didn’t get any of the money for them.”

Baekhyun gave a small smile, tired, “Nah. Not a cent to my name right now. Got a nice room in the basement though, it ain’t nice to be a rookie, large gangs fucking suck with their fucking hierarchy.”

“Got a room for you back home. A bed the size of a car for you, fine cotton sheets.”

Baekhyun swallowed hard and chose not to respond, because he didn’t need to drag him into the mess he created.

Plus, he already knew what Chanyeol was talking about - his own bed, their bed - Baekhyun used to be in love with the size of it, rolled around on it for hours purely because it was so soft.

He didn’t need to be reminded of how often they broke it in, their love was practically all the bed held because they were in it together so often.

Baekhyun's chest ached and he didn’t know what to think - or do.

So he opted not to do, or say, a thing about it.

“What’s next?”

“Well,” Chanyeol murmured, moving to take a seat beside him, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows and shoulder against Baekhyun's.

The muscles running around his forearms begged Baekhyun to touch them, and trace the many tattoos Chanyeol had.

Some of them looked new, Baekhyun wondered how many new ones he had.

“You can’t walk, and I can’t see a town for miles. So, I think we’re just gonna wait for a car to drive by and rush them.”

“You gonna break their teeth in with bare knuckles? You know that shit hurts, crazy.”

Chanyeol snorted, shaking his head a small bit as he reached behind him to pull out the gun, “Got this off one of the guards. I’ll just shoot. Whatever.”

Baekhyun's eyes glittered, grabbing the gun and opening the chamber to check it.

A full clip, good.

He turned to press it against Chanyeol's chest, giving a slight smirk, “Boom.”

“Cute,” Chanyeol cooed, uncaring that Baekhyun literally had it pressed to his chest as he threw an arm over his shoulders and rested his sweaty forehead on his head, “Gonna shoot me, little fox, do it. Guess it’s fair.”

It was fair.

Baekhyun moved the barrel so it pressed over Chanyeol's heart, but it was only to show his intentions rather than actually to threaten him, “Yeah. It is fair.”

Could break your heart like you did mine, his eyes said.

Chanyeol didn’t argue at all, pressing his lips softly into his cheek and breathing a hot sigh into his skin, “Never anyone else, just you. Always.”

He gulped, dropping the gun onto Chanyeol's thigh because it was pointless when they both knew he wouldn’t do a thing, and didn’t want to. “Should have said that two years ago.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol clicked his tongue near his ear and tightened his arm around his shoulders, “I should have. But I’m saying it now, so that has to count for something, right?”

It did.

But Baekhyun didn’t say anything.

  
~~~~~~

It took hours for any car to drive past.

So long that Baekhyun was long asleep on Chanyeol’s shoulder and his hands played limply with the gun in his lap until his eyes caught light in the distance.

His eyes widened slightly, gently moving Baekhyun onto his side, he heard the man muffle a quiet groan and cursed under his breath, reaching down to fix his leg.

“Idiot,” He mumbled to himself.

They’d been sitting here for what felt like forever and he had completely forgotten about Baekhyun's leg.

Now his tiredness was gone and he was reminded of more important things other than his head pounding.

Chanyeol stood up to run up the hill towards the road, waving his arms as he stood in the center of the road.

It wasn’t completely dark yet, just now settling into nighttime so he knew he was really hard to miss being over six feet and blocking the street.

The car still skidded on the brakes though, tired screeching and Chanyeol gritted his teeth, patience already tested as he walked over to the door where a man was rolling down his window with a confused look.

“Hey, you need help or something?”

Obviously he fucking needed help, his nose was broken and he had cuts on his skin.

Chanyeol wasn’t really in the mood though and reached into the car to yank the man out, he delivered a bullet to his skull as soon as the first scream sounded, silencing him.

At least no blood was inside the car.

Not like he truly cared, but it was the little things.

He left the body on the side of the road before running back down the hill, car still running in the middle of the road.

The noise probably woke Baekhyun up, he wasn’t known to be a heavy sleeper anyways because Chanyeol noticed he was sitting up on his side.

And when he noticed Chanyeol he raised his arm up towards him.

Chanyeol’s heart raced at the needy, groggy expression he was granted as he tried not to jostle Baekhyun too much when he scooped him up, snatching his jeans and jacket into his hand because they still did need something as cushion.

“I got you, babe. Is it too bad?” He whispered, kissing Baekhyun's cheek.

Well, just kissing anywhere on his skin when given the opportunity to be so close to him again, to smell the fruity scent of champagne on his lips.

Right now it was the scent of iron over everything, but that was fine so long as he was close enough to inhale it.

“Just - ah, burns - fuck.”

Chanyeol tsked under his breath, he couldn’t believe he fucking broke Baekhyun's leg, leaning over to open the passenger door to set Baekhyun in.

His arm held the bottom of his calf straight as Baekhyun adjusted the seat to lay back and be higher to the dashboard.

“I know, it’s weird. Just for a few hours and then Junmyeon and Yixing will treat you,” Chanyeol promised as he noticed Baekhyun's gritted teeth, gently placing the clothing back beneath his leg.

It was dangerous to have your feet on the dashboard, but whatever fucking helped the swelling he was willing to do, even if he was overly paranoid now because it really wasn’t his day.

First an explosion, then they were arrested, then a car accident - get it together, Chanyeol, he scolded himself.

“It’s fine,” Baekhyun mumbled, laying his head back.

It was cute that Chanyeol leaned over to buckle him despite Baekhyun not even sitting correctly in the seat at all.

The man pressed a fleeting kiss to his forehead, slamming the door as he came around the other side to get into the seat, adjusting to make room for his long legs.

Then, they were on the go.


	8. Monsters

“Want some?”

Baekhyun had sat his seat up a bit about an hour back, digging into the center console and having found some chips.

They were warm and probably had been here a while, but it had nearly been 48 hours from the last time he had eaten at the casino, so he was starving.

Chanyeol hummed back, turning his head to accept the snack before reaching over to push Baekhyun's shoulder back slightly, “Babe, lay back some more.”

“It’s not like I’ve never broken a leg before,” Baekhyun huffed, looking out the windshield at the stars, he could tell Chanyeol was going extremely fast purely based on the fact that they were disappearing from his vision at the speed of light.

He couldn’t imagine how horrible Chanyeol must feel right now, the worst Baekhyun had ever done to him was punch him really hard accidentally during their sparing, but the action only seemed to really turn Chanyeol on because not even a second after Baekhyun had busted his lip he had him in his lap.

“Just let me worry, kitten.”

Baekhyun didn’t know why, especially since they had been having a relatively nice time together, but those words bothered him intensely.

Worry? He laughed under his breath. “You didn’t worry about me much the past two years.”

His words weren’t angry or even rude, but matter of fact.

Chanyeol hadn’t as far as he was concerned, despite the man having said he did and looked out for him.

He didn’t hear a response immediately.

In fact, he didn’t hear anything at all for minutes.

Until all hell broke loose and he felt the car come to a stop, not hard enough to jerk his leg off the dashboard, but enough for him to gasp and turn to look at Chanyeol confused, “It’s dark as fu-“

“Goddamn it, Baekhyun!”

Chanyeol slammed his hands on the steering wheel, chest rising and falling and Baekhyun's eyes widened, taken back.

“Can’t you see I’m fucking… I-I’m fucking trying here! I’m trying to explain to you! I love you! How many times have I said it in just the past few hours! Can’t you see it’s not a lie! Look at me and tell me it’s a lie!”

Baekhyun swallowed hard because when Chanyeol turned to look at him it was with tears streaming down his face and nothing but absolute pain.

“I came to that casino,” Chanyeol gulped and Baekhyun watched the way he dropped his head, “To try to see you. Explain, because it’s about fucking time. And you fucking deserve as much. Didn’t care about the drugs, didn’t give a fuck. I came because I knew you’d be there, and.. I-I wasn’t planning on this, okay? I just… wanted to tell you the truth, because I can’t fucking sleep unless I’m dosed on painkillers, I can’t do anything anymore, Baekhyun. Drinking isn’t working, drugs never worked for me. I can’t just… I just saw you and… and I know, I don’t deserve anything from you, I looked at you, and I lied to your face..

But I won’t anymore, baby. I’m not… I’m too far gone to continue without you, okay? I need you to come back to me, if not… if not to me, at least to the gang that way I don’t have to wake up in a cold sweat, afraid the next breaking news is going to be your death. I fuc- I just fucking love you. I love you.”

Baekhyun felt a heavy silence fall between them, not knowing what to really say, or do, because he had only ever seen Chanyeol cry three times. Three times in their entire three year relationship.

When they lost three members.

Because Chanyeol pretended not to care about his members until he did - until he caught wind that they had been killed.

They had long tried to leave this life, tried to integrate into normal society.

But, it was a hard lesson that taught them no matter what, even years could pass but you’d always be who you once were.

You’d always be a thief, as Zitao was, shot when caught breaking into a mansion.

You’d always be a scammer, as Luhan was, killed in prison while serving a sentence unrelated to them - caught cycling money from his job inside a bank.

You’d always be a fighter, as Kris was, jumped on the streets simply walking home from work.

They couldn’t get out, ever.

It was the sick truth.

And he knew why Chanyeol was so scared, scared that would be him.

Maybe he’d be killed breaking into a drug ring, tortured.

Maybe he’d be killed in human trade, because he always pushed where he shouldn’t.

Maybe, just maybe, his body would be given to Chanyeol as a sick gift, because it wasn’t like their relationship was ever under wraps and hidden behind doors - Chanyeol certainly didn’t have the patience for that, and Baekhyun didn’t have enough self control to keep his hands to himself, even during meetings with other gangs.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun muttered, finding it hard to find words, “Please don’t cry, babe, don’t cry. I’m right here.”

He reached over the console to grab the man’s hand, unable to sit up and hug him as he would if his leg didn’t need to stay still, “Come on, trouble, don’t do this, babe. I’m safe. You’re safe.”

He absolutely hated when Chanyeol's eyes were swollen from crying, his hair always made any redness on his face seem even darker, lips bitten and the swelling of his nose look more inflamed when he looked down at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun cooed, bringing his scratched up palm to his lips and pressing a kiss to the tips of his fingers, “I’m sorry, calm down, crazy. Just breathe, you’re trying and I appreciate that.”

“You hate me,” Chanyeol used his opposite hand to wipe his nose, rubbing it roughly despite the obvious brokenness of it, like he didn’t feel a thing, “You can just say it. I ruined you. You don’t trust me, you can’t look at me for more than a few minutes, you hate me, Baekhyun. And.. that’s okay, that’s… I would hate you too if you said to me what I said to you… I’m just..” he licked his lips and gave a small shake of his head, mumbling, “... a monster,” under his breath.

Chanyeol’s points were true, they were reasonable and Baekhyun was surprised he even noticed, because he was usually the observational one, Chanyeol relied a lot more on talking and bluntness.

He didn’t not trust him though, he did, that’s why he couldn’t look at him for more than five minutes at a time, because then he was reminded of things he had been telling himself were wrong for the past two years.

How could he not trust him when Chanyeol was in this mess because of him?

Chanyeol didn’t have to go to that fucking casino, but he went for him.

“Come here,” Baekhyun requested, finding it hard to shift onto his side, but he did, “Couldn't ever hate you, I lie sometimes too,” He added, wiggling his fingers towards Chanyeol's face when the man wasn’t acting fast enough.

Chanyeol laid his face in the crook of his neck, awkwardly leaning over the console, fingers dipping into Baekhyun's hair, he sighed and it sounded painful.

“You broke my heart,” Baekhyun felt Chanyeol's breath catch against his collarbone, but tightened his arm around the back of the man’s head so he couldn’t go anywhere, “You did. You sure as hell owe me a hell of a lot more than a broken leg,” He joked gently, lingering fingers over Chanyeol's ear, “But you’re my monster, babe. Okay? My monster, my mistake, mine. Whatever you want to call it, Chanyeol.”

“Yeah?”

Baekhyun smiled, pressing his lips to Chanyeol's temple, “Yeah. My monster, babe.”


	9. Home

It was late at night by the time they arrived at Chanyeol's house, the lights were all off and pushing three in the morning.

The guards had gotten them pretty far out, an eight hour drive back home, counting pit stops for gas and food in which Chanyeol came back out with snacks and gauze to wrap Baekhyun's leg up.

It was unnecessary when they had already been nearly home, but sweet of him.

Baekhyun pushed open his door and had a hard time swinging his leg down before hopping on his good leg and grabbing onto the door for balance.

He must have looked a complete mess wearing only boxers on the lower half of his body and face painted with day old dried blood.

It was really itchy too, not comfortable in the least.

“Fuck, forgot how goddamn stupid it feels to limp.” Baekhyun whined.

He heard Chanyeol's door slam around the other side and watched the man as he approached.

Chanyeol looked him over like he was unsure what to do and Baekhyun snickered at him, rolling his eyes, “You act like I could wobble up the stairs. Just fucking pick me up, Chan.”

Instantly the man looked a lot better, relieved as he picked him up, “Haven’t heard you demand that in a long time, baby. Let’s get your leg healed and then ask me that again, hm?”

“What makes you think I’m that eager? Think I haven’t gotten any action?”

Chanyeol’s mouth twisted, eying Baekhyun's profile as the other leaned over to open the door, “I’ll drop you.”

They both knew he wouldn’t, Baekhyun giggled and shoved the door open, “You do that and you won’t even get a hug, don’t push it.”

Chanyeol huffed under his breath at that, but shut up instantly.

Baekhyun laughed before looking around as Chanyeol carried him up the stairs, it all looked… exactly as he remembered it.

But, something about Chanyeol's house felt oddly… dull.

It wasn’t the walls, they were the same dark blue as he remembered, the same dark brown wood floors and the same diamond chandelier Chanyeol had gotten him as a gift for his birthday one year, simply because he knew it’d make him smile.

Plus, Chanyeol had some diamond jewelry and cheesy lines about how he liked him in jewels because he looked so much brighter, Baekhyun remembered that he smacked his arm for that, but made sure Chanyeol tasted the appreciation on his lips.

An even sillier thought was the one that Baekhyun settled on to explain the dullness.

It was so, so empty. So quiet.

“The others don’t stay here?” He asked, twisting the door knob that Chanyeol held him towards.

His breath caught when he realized where he was being placed into, and shouldn't have expected any differently really.

“They got one all together, claimed I wasn’t fun company anymore, ridiculous, right?”

Oh. Baekhyun sighed as he looked over Chanyeol's arm around the room. The mirror on the wall was broken, clothes all over along with guns and knives, Baekhyun swore those were bullet holes in the wall. 

No wonder they wanted to leave, Chanyeol was nothing short of a snapping dog, and he couldn't imagine how worse it must have been without him to calm the man down.

Baekhyun nodded slowly, lips pressed together as Chanyeol placed him on the corner of the bed.

Just the same, he mouthed to himself, reaching to the right to wrap his fingers around the rosewood frame that stuck out angularly on the corners.

Chanyeol liked to be unique with his furniture choices, very picky, but they always ended up looking absolutely amazing.

“No maids. No members. They invade sometimes, but usually just take over downstairs or come steal our- my food.”

Baekhyun licked his lips before tucking his hands around his waist, looking towards where Chanyeol's voice was fading out and could see his back hovering over the bathtub.

The sound of water running made him place his palm over his mouth, what a ridiculous thing to get choked up over, but it was all just so familiar.

Since Chanyeol was distracted, he slipped off the bed and hobbled around the bed to Chanyeol's side table. The man was always prone to one side of the bed over the other, but he wasn’t interested in seeing what was left in his (old) side table.

He had to check Chanyeol’s. Needed to check.

Chanyeol was probably going to be a few, he could see the man climbing down to rest on his knees and messing with the faucet.

So, because his eyes were tearing up and his heart was racing, he chanced his feelings and opened the drawer.

And there it was.

Baekhyun didn’t know if he was surprised or not, shocked or not.

“Happy birthday, baby,” He whispered under his breath, because those were the words whispered in his own ear years ago.

The frame was cracked a bit, but the picture inside was untouched, and it always was Chanyeol's favorite.

Baekhyun's birthday, five years before, only months after they first officially called friends with benefits stupid and acted on their feelings.

Chanyeol looked so much younger back then, no tattoos on his skin or red hair, just a cheesy smile and Baekhyun over his shoulder outside this house, back then it used to house all of them, but it was always theirs.

Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's.

He set it down on the side table and ran his fingers over a few more items in the drawer, an old watch, Chanyeol had broken it in a fight and had been so sorry at the time because it had been Baekhyun's gift to him when they were younger, just newbies walking into the underground like they knew what they were doing.

They hadn’t back then, back when they had met in college.

A place neither of them liked.

They both had tendencies. Baekhyun liked to steal, Chanyeol liked to antagonize, and was good at getting what he liked.

That was probably one of the reasons Baekhyun fell in love with him in the first place even when he had so many options, had so many friends that they had convinced of this lifestyle to choose from. (It wasn’t hard when each of them weren’t interested in “moral society” anyway.)

Chanyeol liked Baekhyun, always had.

Baekhyun was the one that kept strictly friends with benefits for a long time, but it came to a point where even he - a pretender - couldn't pretend any longer.

Now that he thought about it, it seemed unreasonable for him to have even believed Chanyeol to have ever cheated on him, not when the man had spent a year trying to be more than a hookup.

God, Baekhyun felt like an idiot, pathetic tears running down his face as he dug more into the side table.

He was being loud now, but if Chanyeol heard he didn’t say a thing.

His favorite necklaces, rings, presents, even down to his favorite book just stored in here. Just waiting for Baekhyun.

It hurt to swallow his tears, but he did, leaving the side table wide open, “Chan. Need your help.” He requested, hopping towards the bathroom when he ran out of furniture to hold onto.

Chanyeol had been watching though, Baekhyun expected as much, so he wasn’t surprised when the man was standing in the bathroom doorway with his arms crossed, but moving to grab his hand when close enough.

Baekhyun felt so pathetic, in a good way if such a thing was possible.

Because he felt weak, vulnerable, pathetic for being so stupid, but also relieved, elated, fond.

Pathetic in a good way was the only way he could describe it.

“No crying allowed,” Chanyeol whispered, but he didn’t need to say much because they both knew what was going on. “Need to clean you up, Bambi. Just sit right here please.”

He helped Baekhyun sit on the lid of the toilet, fingers unbuttoning the low cut of his silk top.

Baekhyun hadn’t even noticed until now all his jewelry was gone, probably taken off of him by the guards when he was knocked out. That was okay though - preferred - because he could feel Chanyeol's fingers skimming his skin easier.

Chanyeol pressed a kiss to his inner wrist once it was removed, eyes looking over his chest before curling his hands into his boxers.

With a nod, Baekhyun was nude in front of him, completely naked as Chanyeol removed the gauze from his leg.

“Up you go, baby fox.”

He was a little surprised Chanyeol didn’t take the time to look over his body all that much, because he was more than curious what he’d see when he looked at Chanyeol's.

“Okay. Need to keep that leg straight, so sit back.” Chanyeol's shirt got soaked when he set him carefully into the bathtub, but he didn’t seem to notice, or care, just reaching down to make sure Baekhyun listened to his suggestion.

At this point he hardly felt his leg throbbing over the reminiscent pain in his chest.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun whispered, reaching over the edge to cup his cheek, wiping his wet hands over the blood dried on his chin and upper lip, “Calm down, handsome,” He requested, “I’m right here. Can’t you feel me?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol croaked, voice sounding slightly hoarse and Baekhyun didn’t even think the man slept the whole time they were in the van either, so he wasn’t all that surprised. “Can feel you.”

Baekhyun brought his face closer, resting his lips against Chanyeol's forehead, “Can feel you too, babe.”

Chanyeol released a tired sigh of relief, cupping behind Baekhyun's ear and lifting his head to nuzzle their noses together, his own wet hand wiping around Baekhyun's bloodied lips.

He knew what Chanyeol was doing and reciprocated a million times faster, sitting up and pressing his lips onto the man’s, thumb rubbing along Chanyeol's cheek.

Despite trying to piss Chanyeol off by claiming Sehun was a good kisser, it really was nothing to compare to kissing someone who was a part of you, who knew your soul, your body, your mind.

And loved everything they saw.

“Still taste like blood,” Chanyeol whispered against his mouth, lips still pressed together, almost like he was scared Baekhyun was going to jerk away.

Baekhyun laughed, curling his hand into Chanyeol's hair in a way that should be painful, but he knew exactly how much pain the man could handle.

“What’s new, trouble?” Baekhyun cooed, pressing a peck to Chanyeol's bottom lip and expecting him to laugh along with him.

Chanyeol didn’t though, he just smiled, “Seeing you. That’s what’s new.”

God, Baekhyun hated and loved him so fucking much because it should be physically impossible for his chest to withstand this much pain and love at once.

“You know what’s not new?”

“What?”

Baekhyun pressed a kiss to Chanyeol's forehead, smoothing back the red locks to drag his lips very carefully over his nose, pecking the swelling on the side of his nose so softly, almost as if he hadn’t been near the injury at all, “That I love you so goddamn much.”

“So you’ll stay?”

“Yeah. I’ll stay, crazy.”

Chanyeol sucked in a breath, but even to this day Baekhyun felt he was so good at reading him, because as soon as the tears fell he was connecting their lips again.

He preferred if Chanyeol cried against his lips rather than all alone anyways.


	10. Prequel: Candy

Baekhyun's backpack felt heavier than it was when he left his house, but that was his own fault his back was aching a bit.

The array of new things in his backpack were heavier than his books at this point, and he was more excited to look through the goodies he had gotten today.

He had blindly grabbed a game off his chemistry professors desk this morning and hoped he had gotten the right thing because if not he was going to be very upset having to go take it from the store again.

It wasn’t as much fun.

At least in college he could have all the fun he wanted, it was so much easier to steal because he didn’t know any of these people, he didn’t have a record, nobody knew his face, his new campus was huge, about 40,000 students were enrolled here.

So, as far as he was concerned he was the new kid, but he could easily convince someone he’d been here this entire time because there was no need to socialize, no need for him to even pretend to be anyone because nobody knew him or his name.

There was no guilt when he was invisible.

He just went to his classes as he wanted, and if he saw something nice on the way - was he going to just ignore it?

Of course not, he was going to do whatever he wanted in order to slip it into his bag, much like the bracelet he had on his wrist, glittering diamonds.

It was on a waitress’ arm where he stopped for breakfast that morning.

All it took was a small bump and when he leaned down to help her up with a sweet grin she seemed too stunned to notice when his hand on her forearm ran down her wrist - and with it the jewels.

Easy, he mused.

Now he was walking to his last class of the day, it was on the opposite side of campus, but it was a discussion class, so he didn’t really have much to miss out on anyway.

Plus, he hadn’t read the assigned reading at all, so that was fun.

As fun as being twenty minutes late and as he slipped through the door.

It was only a short lesson anyway, he should have just skipped all together, but whatever, he was already inside.

Students were already talking, partnered up and he sighed because he hated when he didn’t get to choose a partner.

The only one left alone was a man in the back, a full head of black curls sitting on his forehead and a blue hood pulled over top.

He looked to be drawing on his book more than anything else and Baekhyun shrugged, better than sitting alone.

Large, seemingly muscular, the watch on his wrist suggested money, Baekhyun knew from experience that most rich men preferred more submissive, shy, and blushing company than anything.

“Hi… uh… can I sit there?” Baekhyun asked, tone laced nervously and clutching onto the strap of his bag like he was out of his comfort zone approaching.

The man looked up at him, wide eyes and lips quirked up when he scanned Baekhyun.

“I’d be stupid to say no, doll face.”

Baekhyun stifled the smirk that wanted to pull up onto his lips to fake dropping his head to look at his toes, hoping his coyness came off as genuine because he couldn’t exactly fake a blush.

If he could, he’d have mastered it already.

“I.. my name is Baekhyun.” He mumbled, voice tripping over his words nervously and taking a seat beside the man, placing his backpack in his lap.

“Chanyeol,” The other greeted, pushing the hood off his head and shaking his hair out, long fingers running through his hair as he turned to place his chin on his palm, “You been here all semester? I think I’d remember you.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun lied, wrapping his arms tightly around his backpack, “Um… did you read the story? I forgot my book and..”

He placed his hand over his mouth as if embarrassed at his excessive talking.

Chanyeol’s brow raised slightly, eyeing the action before moving the book from his desk to toss onto Baekhyun's, “Keep it.”

Then, the man turned away, digging into his bag.

Baekhyun's brows pulled together in confusion.

Surely he’d done everything right. The almost stupid way he made himself seem always had men quick to want to interact with him, guide him as if he was a lost puppy.

Chanyeol pulled out various things, laying a notepad on the table and a container of pencils, then came a candy bar.

A simple Twix just sitting there waiting to be devoured.

Baekhyun wanted it, he’d already decided.

“Can.. can you help me with this sentence?” He asked, pointing randomly and leaning a tiny bit closer.

“Little busy.”

Baekhyun's mouth dropped.

Perhaps he was spoiled with attention - and he’d readily admit he was - but he felt entitled to what he was working for so badly.

Fuck this man if he thinks ignoring him was okay.

Baekhyun moved his backpack off his lap, dropping it onto the floor and crossing his legs so he faced Chanyeol's desk.

The man was simply doodling, Baekhyun scoffed under his breath. As if that was more important than acknowledging all the hard work Baekhyun was going through.

“Guns, huh?” He asked, staring at the doodles.

Almost instantly Chanyeol turned to look at him, eyes looking more interested than even when Baekhyun first arrived. “Yeah. You know anything about guns, doll?”

Oh. So he wasn’t someone Baekhyun could typically stereotype.

Fuck, now he had to actively pay attention.

“You can teach me,” He mumbled, this time the uncertain tone he spoke in was genuine as he tried to see what direction Chanyeol leaned to.

It seemed neither good or bad as Chanyeol turned to look back at his notebook but acknowledged him with a shrug.

Well, at least it was sort of fun, because all Baekhyun really needed to do was look at him and Chanyeol was a rather attractive man.

Baekhyun scooted his chair closer, nearly placing it on Chanyeol's bag and the man didn’t even react, he clenched his jaw.

“That a Jericho or a Glock?”

Chanyeol stopped his scribbling and set his pencil down, leaning back against his chair with an interested or at least surprised, Baekhyun couldn't fucking tell. “What do you know about guns? A little babe like you, hm?”

Nicknames said something, nicknames were good, Baekhyun mused.

Said he was doing something right.

“Just a bit,” Baekhyun smirked, “Not as much as you probably, handsome.”

It was a risky move, but Chanyeol released a breathy laugh, and Baekhyun felt much more confident when the man leaned over towards him, “Handsome, huh? Are you shy or not? Only one of those is worth my time.”

This all just got a whole lot easier then, because Baekhyun fucking hated pretending to be a babbling virgin.

And Chanyeol, based on the eyes skimming him now that he wasn’t hiding behind his backpack, seemed to be much more invested in giving him attention.

Things were fun now.

Baekhyun threw out a flirty grin, tilting his head to the side and leaning over to rest his cheek onto his palm on Chanyeol’s desk, “Whatever you prefer, babe.”

Chanyeol was difficult to read compared to the average person, he looked at Baekhyun for a long time, scanned him head to toe, lingering, but then he’d also turn his head the other way which conveyed uninterest, leaning back against his chair with crossed arms.

Then, he’d sit forward, closer than before.

Baekhyun's mind was calculating at the speed of light, and still came up short on an answer.

“Not really into baby faced boys, but I’ll make an exception for you.”

Baekhyun snorted, because that was a new one, he’d never been somewhat insulted and complimented at the same time.

“Should I thank you for that, muscles?” He cooed, his opposite hand that was resting on his own knee skimming fingers over Chanyeol's thigh.

His fingertips were met with skin instead of fabric and Baekhyun always did have a thing for long legs in ripped jeans.

Something about it felt so… feral? Dangerous?

Chanyeol’s eyes gleamed then, licking his lips and Baekhyun felt he had won because something in them swam with interest.

But not a normal kind, something akin to a dangerous smirk on Chanyeol's face that warned him to back off, to leave while he could.

Baekhyun never was one to back away from things he wanted. Or, things he found interesting.

“Thank me, baby. Go ahead, I want to hear it.”

“It’s not that easy,” Baekhyun hummed, dipping his fingertip into the side of the hole in the jeans, “Do I look easy to you? Should I be offended?” He pouted his lips out fakely, taking a moment to play up a show of scanning Chanyeol’s face down to his belt - or what wasn't obscured by the desk.

Baekhyun suddenly felt desks were extremely unnecessary in classrooms solely because he couldn’t see more.

“With a face like that I’d assume you do this a lot, am I wrong? Tell me I’m right and I’ll take you outside this class now. There’s only five minutes left anyway.”

Fuck, Baekhyun hadn’t been serious about flirting with him, but something about Chanyeol's eyes had him reconsidering.

“Well, I’ll tell you this,” Baekhyun murmured, leaning over so his face was merely a few inches away from Chanyeol’s, “You must be lucky, because I don’t put out so easily, but, like you. I’ll make an exception.”

The noise Chanyeol made had Baekhyun's hair standing up beneath his sleeves. It was something between a growl and an approving noise.

“I don’t sleep with whores,” Chanyeol murmured as if scolding, tilting his head down to catch Baekhyun's eyes, “Understand?”

Baekhyun could have asked the man to do as said and take him to his place now, but he settled for a half lidded grin, fingers inching up Chanyeol's thigh until he could feel the way the man’s jeans scrunched up by his hip from his seated position, “Good thing I’m not. Haven’t been fucked in a long time, you could find out yourself..”

He heard the other students packing up and stood up quickly resting his hand against Chanyeol's desk as he hovered over him, leaning over so he had Chanyeol's eyes locked on his own, kneeling down a bit to grab the strap of his backpack.

“.. or not.” He finished, granting Chanyeol a wink before spinning around and speed walking out the door.

And, as soon as he deemed it far enough, he reached into the sleeve of his sweatshirt and grinned.

“Sucker,” He commented, taking a bite out of his extremely hard worked for Twix.

Hm, things really do taste better when you work hard for them.

~~~~~~  
  


Baekhyun had about a half hour walk to his house, already long off campus and humming as he held his backpack straps.

“Hey!”

He raised a brow as he looked over his shoulder towards a diner to his right, genuinely surprised when his classmate was getting out of a car and walking towards him.

Nice car, Baekhyun noticed.

“What’s up, hot stuff?” Baekhyun asked.

Chanyeol had a sly grin on his face, shoving his car keys into his jeans and throwing an arm around his shoulder, steering Baekhyun, “Believe we had some unfinished business, babe.”

“Oh?” Baekhyun mused, false innocence filling his expression, “Did we? I can’t recall, in fact, who are you mister? This is stranger danger.”

The way Chanyeol struggled to hide his amused chuckle was oddly cute, Baekhyun could get used to it.

“My dick begs to argue with you.” Chanyeol replied, “But first..”

Baekhyun gasped in shock as he was shoved into a wall, brick behind his back softened by his backpack.

His lips parted in surprise as he looked up at Chanyeol, the man pressing his chest against Baekhyun's and laying a hand beside his face, “Where the fuck is my candy?”

Baekhyun's eye twitched in annoyance.

Firstly, because he’d never fucking gotten caught before and he sure as hell was positive Chanyeol hadn’t seen shit.

Secondly, because who the fuck did Chanyeol think he was to push him around like this?

“No idea what you’re talking about, get off me, fucker.”

“Really had me going there…” Chanyeol tsked, eyeing him like a predator would prey, but a smirk on his face, “This sweet face, the stumbling, oh, how good. You're good, baby, I’ll give you that. Real good. Now, you’ve managed to not only piss me off, but my stomach, so hand it over.”

Baekhyun scoffed, “Sure your dick isn’t just pissed off? Seems awfully mad to me, or is this your normal level of anger when someone eats your dollar candy bar. Might want to work on that, Chanyeol, it’s not everyone’s kink to be shoved into an alley.”

“Oh, baby…” Despite his words and his eyes, Chanyeol sounded overly amused, nearly proud as he took a step back to run his eyes over Baekhyun from head to toe, “Fuck. You're going to get far. Just a few tips and you’d be unreadable. Fake cry a little when you deny a claim before admitting it.”

Baekhyun's nose scrunched up, crossing his arms and ready to defend himself because he prided himself in being really fucking good - if not the best at stealing and faking people out.

“H-hey!” He yelled instead when Chanyeol yanked his backpack off his shoulder, already unzipping it's contents.

“You son of a bitch!” Baekhyun growled, shoving Chanyeol's side and the man didn’t move an inch, only ignoring him and dumping the bags contents on the ground.

“You fucking-“ Baekhyun went to punch his face when Chanyeol swiftly grabbed the fist, pulling the smaller into his chest and surprised when the man instantly was holding his waist.

It seemed far too intimate when he had been almost positive that he, a thief, was about to get robbed.

Oh the irony.

“I take it back, seems you’ve been doing fine on your own,” Chanyeol mused, the look in his eyes was way past interested, pushing proud. “You still owe me a fucking Twix though.”

Baekhyun laughed under his breath, “Be glad that's not your Rolex in my bag.”

Chanyeol’s brow quirked up at that, turning his head to look at the pile of items, and sure enough sitting on top was a solid gold Rolex, glimmering away.

“Well, we- oh, fuck, holy shit - fucking hell-“

Baekhyun giggled, taking a step back to watch Chanyeol fall to his knees cupping his junk.

“Don’t fucking grab me like that,” Baekhyun sung, beginning to pile his things back into his bag whilst knowing Chanyeol was being sent to hell and back from the knee that had gone between his legs.

“Better luck next time, elf ears.” He teased, tossing his bag on his shoulder and planning on continuing his peaceful walk home.

“Ah, fucking, fucking hell - wait, th-“

Baekhyun turned around to look down at Chanyeol, tapping his foot impatiently.

It took Chanyeol another curse before looking up at him, surprising Baekhyun once more with a pained, lopsided grin, “That was fucking, god, fucking hot - come to the diner with me.”

It wasn’t much of a question as it was a demand, but Chanyeol looked like he was waiting for an answer under muffled curses.

“Only if you’re buying, babe,” Baekhyun shrugged.

Free food was free food.

Chanyeol grunted in acknowledgment before lowering his head into his knees, “Hold on, baby, fuck you knee hard.”

“All part of my charm, you turned on now?”

“Fuck yes.” Chanyeol growled.

~~~~~~

Chanyeol was surprisingly chill.

Well, you know, after he was able to stand and do as promised.

Baekhyun was always a sucker for free food, it was always a plus when the man buying was hot as fuck.

And responded to him ten times as rougher than what Baekhyun put out.

He’d never had someone come on so strong - or ask him out after just getting his junk beat to hell - it was, in Chanyeol's words, “Sexy as fuck, gorgeous.”

Baekhyun had been the one to play games with him first, so he had asked for the man’s attention.

And here he was, sitting across the booth from him and chuckling at Baekhyun explaining the pretty bracelet on his wrist and his adventurous day with a backpack full of random junk - but junk Baekhyun had very much deemed his.

“Seems so boring.”

Baekhyun raised a brow, swallowing his mouthful of burger, “What?”

Chanyeol hummed, and he had a tendency of not responding at all unless Baekhyun would meet his eyes, almost like he was constantly searching for something in Baekhyun's expression, “To have such… skill and not use it. Also, no offense because you looked really good, real sexy, doll, but if you’re gonna be doing shit like that you need to at least know how to throw a punch.”

“Almost landed one on you, babe, don’t forget that part,” Baekhyun pointed out, popping a fry into his mouth.

The other man laughed before snorting, “Please. You had no strength in it. I can teach you, Baekhyun. You can’t always just plan to run or lie if you get caught. Plus, you gave yourself up pretty easily.”

Baekhyun quirked a brow at him, both because of his words and also because it was the first time his actual name came from Chanyeol's mouth.

“If you get good enough you could go for bigger, better things,” Chanyeol added, leaning across the table conspiringly, “Clothes, money, jewels… you seem to like diamonds a lot, I think someone so pretty deserves a shit ton more than what you have, hm?”

Chanyeol didn't seem the type to go from calling him sexy to pretty within a minute time frame, but he did.

Baekhyun really didn't need the compliments, his self confidence was high, but it still sounded nice coming from someone with such a deep, drowning voice.

Anything Chanyeol said sounded like a compliment; he was good at sweet talking and that much was obvious because Baekhyun was buying everything he was saying.

He loved all of those things, clothes, money, jewelry - who didn’t?

“What are you suggesting?”

Chanyeol gave him a flirtatious grin, “Well, first.. you could very meaningfully kiss me apologetically.”

Baekhyun sat blank faced, unimpressed.

“No? Well, guess we just have to skip to the second part, what a shame. The suggestion is always open - next is to take you to… my group, train you up.”

“Group?”

“Yeah, just a few of us. You available this weekend?”

Baekhyun nodded, pulling out his phone from his pocket, “Just let me know where to meet.”

Chanyeol hummed, typing before looking up with an almost hopeful grin, “If I pick you up, do I get head?”

“Here’s what's going to happen,” Baekhyun cooed sweetly, “You're going to take me home, then, this weekend you'll pick me up and drop me off...”

“Then, we’ll fuck?”

“...Then, I’ll knock you on your ass,” Baekhyun finished with a beam, climbing out of his seat, “Now come along, Chan. I’ve got places to be, things to look through!”


	11. Prequel: Gang

Chanyeol did pick him up that Saturday, blowing up his phone just about a million times until Baekhyun had whined and climbed into his car still puffy eyed even though it was well past the afternoon and an average person would be wide awake.

“Nice house,” Chanyeol commented, “Your parents rich or something?”

Baekhyun laughed under his breath, pulling down the visor to fix his hair. “Or something.” He mused.

“I hate when you do that. Don’t give me vague answers, baby, it’s starting to get under my skin.”

“You tell me what to do again I’ll jump out of this fucking car,” Baekhyun said, using the same ordering tone Chanyeol dared to use on him, turning to look at him with arms crossed and a warning look.

Chanyeol smirked, one side of his lips quirked up, “You're really hot, you know that?”

“Still not fucking you.”

“For now,” Chanyeol mused, “Just wait, sunshine, I’ll win you over.”

“Please,” Baekhyun scoffed, but the smile on his face gave him away.

Maybe if Chanyeol wasn’t so cocky they’d have already had sex, but Baekhyun was a bit put off by the man’s insistence.

Chanyeol was weird though, because over text he really didn’t give off the same impression as he did in person.

What are you doing?

How are you, beautiful?

You ready? I’ll come pick you up.

These were only some of the texts Baekhyun hadn’t responded to, mainly because he liked to play hard to get, but they were just… not what he’d expect from a man that shoved him into a wall and got off from getting kneed in the junk.

They were.. normal, way too average than anything Chanyeol had ever said to him in person.

Like the man genuinely wanted to talk to him about things other than betting on when Baekhyun would want him.

The thing was, Baekhyun did want him already.

Chanyeol just hadn’t done anything to deserve knowing that yet.

Although Baekhyun was very amused by his antics, and was having a blast flirting and pissing the other off.

Because when Chanyeol got mad his jaw would clench and muscles tighten, eyes narrowing and Baekhyun always got a jolt, a rush at being fixed with such a look.

Kinky, he laughed under his breath at the thought.

Chanyeol was just fucking weird - and exactly his type.

“You hungry, beautiful, not sure what we have at the hideout. I can stop and get you something - at a price, of course.”

Baekhyun snickered before frowning, “Wait? We’re not going to your house?”

“Nah,” Chanyeol tapped his thumb on the steering wheel like he was uncomfortable, shaking out his hair with the other hand and despite his suggestion that Baekhyun would have to owe him for food, he was already turning to get into line at a drive thru.

Chanyeol was cute even if his first reaction was to coo sexually at him, Baekhyun wondered how bad it must be with others if it was this bad with him and they didn’t really know each other at all.

“Going to a separate house, it’s like.. my house but like.. all our friends meet there. I don’t know, you’ll like it. It’s a little empty, but that’s fine, we don’t use it much.”

Lie, Baekhyun could tell because Chanyeol's grip got a little too rough on the wheel.

“Hm, why? You nervous i'd get turned off by your action figures or something. What are you hiding, muscles?”

Chanyeol cackled, shaking his head and looking directly at Baekhyun with an amused grin, “Trust me, baby boy, I have more guns in my room than kid toys. Just don’t like to be locked at home that much. Freedom and shit, parents, you know? Of course I can tell just looking at you that you got daddy issues or some shit or else you wouldn’t be trying to grab a strangers dick in class.”

Baekhyun's face pulled in offense and it was childish of him, but he turned to face the window.

“None of your fucking business, asshole. Be glad because that’s the only time I’ll ever fucking touch you.”

Ouch, Chanyeol cringed and leaned against his own door awkwardly. He hadn’t meant for it to sound so rude, but it did.

Fuck him and his projecting.

“It’s okay…” He mumbled, “Like.. me too, issues. Just.. just was curious because, you know, you’re fucking hot and don’t need to be going around seducing people for things. Curious how you started stealing.. fuck, I’m sorry. And I never say sorry, so don’t take it lightly, baby face. That’s probably the only time you’ll hear it.”

Baekhyun humphed, crossing his legs when he felt Chanyeol reach out to comfort him.

The truth was he really wasn’t that upset, more triggered than anything because he did wish his parents paid more attention to him.

He and Chanyeol weren’t so different because they both read each other more than needed.

Baekhyun just felt annoyed because he noticed plenty of things he could have pointed out just from the past week of classes, like how Chanyeol had scars on his knuckles and his knee was wrapped up the other day.

But he hadn’t, because he at least tried to respect the man’s privacy - not space because they both tended to get in each other’s - but he didn’t question too much, he didn’t demand answers like Chanyeol did.

Both a good thing and a bad thing because Baekhyun was really into the growl of his voice when he was intrigued, but also fucking annoying because he always blurted out what Chanyeol was looking for anyways.

“Baekhyun, baby,” Chanyeol crooned, wrapping his hand around Baekhyun's thigh, dipping his fingertips between where his crossed legs met, “You obviously like attention, that’s all I meant by it. They don’t give it, I will. Look at me, kitten.” He purred.

Sighing, Baekhyun did as he said, curling his hand around Chanyeol's wrist from where it crawled higher up his leg.

He was right.

And, it did feel nice to have Chanyeol's attention more than anyone else Baekhyun had stolen attention from.

Maybe because Chanyeol was the only person that had ever caught or knew of his sticky fingers.

Or, because the man had a glint in his eye that led Baekhyun to believe they weren’t too different.

He wasn’t sure exactly in what context they were the same yet, but socially they were similar in the sense that they didn’t talk to people more than needed.

Baekhyun also was pulled in the more he saw Chanyeol ignore others because it made him feel.. needed when the man didn’t ignore him, but he had seen Chanyeol literally walk away when a professor tried to talk to him about a recent assignment.

Hot.

“So pretty, don't be upset with me,” Chanyeol demanded quietly, voice soft, “Now. What do you want to eat?”

“No price?”

“Just give me a smile, babe, and everything you want is free.”

Baekhyun grinned and sat up to look through Chanyeol's window, hand holding the man’s on his inner thigh and scraping his nails softly over his knuckles.

He liked Chanyeol being genuine much better.

~~~~~~

As they pulled up, Baekhyun was pleasantly surprised by the home they pulled up to.

“Wow. And you said I was rich?”

Chanyeol snorted, “This is just my family's safe house. We use it for.. our group.”

Baekhyun hummed, but everytime Chanyeol said ‘group’ he sounded so hesitant, like he wasn’t exactly sure how open mindedly he could speak to Baekhyun.

He could probably say anything at all and Baekhyun would still find him attractive honestly.

“Stick with me, baby,” Chanyeol added, grabbing Baekhyun's hand that wasn’t holding onto the huge bag of food.

Even if Chanyeol pretended to be tough, Baekhyun didn’t believe it for a second because he had spent well over $100 just on drive thru food when Baekhyun wanted something that was only $5.

So, he was expecting a lot of people inside, and was also surprised Chanyeol thought so far ahead to bring food.

He was soft even if he tried to hide it.

“Handsy today,” Baekhyun teased, wrapping his arm around Chanyeol's and squeezing his palm.

Considering Baekhyun's history of sleeping around, he did feel like Chanyeol's actions were… in a way romantic.

Because they were more sweet than sexual - and even if they were seductive he felt like they weren’t… empty advances.

Baekhyun really needed to stop overthinking.

“Want me to be even more? These jeans are killing me, Baekhyun. Can’t you just give me a little attention?”

Baekhyun giggled at his exasperated tone and pressed his cheek into Chanyeol's arm, “Let’s see how this goes first, handsome.”

Chanyeol smirked.

As they walked in, Baekhyun realized Chanyeol was right about one thing, it was empty.

Well, there wasn’t much furniture other than basics and all the walls were bare, but the house itself wasn’t empty.

In fact, it was full, and loud.

People were laughing and yelling, hitting at each other.

Baekhyun grinned as he looked around, looking up at Chanyeol with a cute excited bounce on his feet.

The man granted him a lopsided smile and almost seemed fond as he unwrapped their hands and whistled, “Everyone! This is Baekhyun! He's with us now!”

He grinned as the crowd looked at him, “Hey.”

“Dibs!” One of them yelled, a taller, dark haired man who had his mouth pulled into a seductive grin and was only wearing a loose hanging pair of sweatpants. “Look at you, sweetheart, lemme show you around.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to respond with an equally as suggestive comment when Chanyeol made a concerning, rumbling noise, “Don't fuck with him, Jongin.”

“Please, I can handle myself,” Baekhyun rolled his eyes, meeting the other man halfway and scanning his eye over his lithe waist before meeting his eyes with a wink and reaching for the glass in his hand.

He brought it to his nose with a scrunched nose, “Bit early to be drinking.”

“Not if you can handle it,” Jongin cooed, laying an urging hand under the glass, “Can you, gorgeous?”

Baekhyun downed the glass, too busy to notice Chanyeol's narrowed eyes as the man watched Baekhyun's back, jealousy the only thing in his expression.

Someone clapped and Baekhyun shoved the glass into Jongin's chest, “Can you, Jongin?” He mimicked, licking the alcohol from his lips.

The man’s mouth pulled up, and he gave Baekhyun a once over with an approving look in his eyes.

“You brought us food? You're the best.”

Baekhyun smiled at the man who said that, his cat shaped lips were cute.

“Actually, Chany-“

“Baby,” Chanyeol interrupted and for a second Baekhyun wasn’t sure if he was talking to him or not.

“Baby?” Another man laughed.

“Baby? You guys fucking? Since when! Why do you get a babe and-“

“Shut the fuck up, Sehun.”

Baekhyun had thought that Chanyeol had been plenty pissed off when he nearly gave him whiplash in that alley, but he must have been completely wrong.

Extremely and totally wrong because Chanyeol looked downright deadly, head ticking to the side like he couldn’t help it, it looked highly concerning.

Baekhyun frowned, setting the bag of food down and the others began to dig inside instantly, as if Chanyeol having a muscle spasm was a normal occurrence and even the person Chanyeol addressed didn’t really look concerned or scared in the slightest.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun murmured, walking carefully over to him, “Hey, handsome, ba-“ The hand he had been trying to lay on Chanyeol's arm was grabbed instantly, snatched, and he jumped in surprise at the grip.

“Don’t want to hurt you,” Chanyeol growled, “Don't you ever come near me when I’m mad.”

Licking his lips nervously, Baekhyun watched the warning swirl around Chanyeol's eyes, but it was painful.

He gulped and tried to yank his hand from Chanyeol's grip, could feel the bruising settling in along with panic, gasping under his breath, “You're hurting me, Chanyeol.”

He wasn’t scared, not at all, because he could see how unintentional it was.

Chanyeol dropped his hand like it was on fire, mouth opening and closing before he obviously decided he had nothing to say, walking into the living room with an anxious hand through his hair to the bunch of boys eating, “Kyungsoo. You got anything good?”

Baekhyun crossed his arms, put off by how fast Chanyeol was to drop and ignore him.

“Yeah, Yixing has it in his bag,” A smaller, wide eyed man replied, pointing to his left where a dimpled man smiled, jumping to his feet, “Got you something good, Yeol.”

Then, the two disappeared down the hall and Baekhyun was slowly growing more mad that Chanyeol just dropped him like this.

“Come on, sweet cheeks, we don’t bite.”

Baekhyun snickered at the man, making his way into the living room where only an old couch sat, filled with people already and others either sat on the carpet - or were standing up, walking towards him like Sehun.

“I do though.”

“Oh, fiesty, that’s cute,” Sehun laughed, putting his hand out, “Oh Sehun. Whatever you need, babe, I’ll get it.”

“Coming onto me so soon?” Baekhyun laughed, eyes not leaving Sehuns as the man grabbed his hand in both of his.

Sehun grinned, pulling Baekhyun closer to his chest, “Can’t help it. With a face like yours you must be asking for my attention, baby.”

Baekhyun threw his head back in a laugh, Sehun dropped his hand and smirked, turning and intending to go back to the food.

There was one problem with that.

“Hey, Sehun?”

“Yeah?” The man looked over his shoulder at him.

Baekhyun grinned and grabbed a handful of his shirt, expression conveying both his anger and amusement, “Give me my fucking ring back or I’ll have you on your ass. Baby. ”

Sehun’s brow raised and Baekhyun heard the group hooting at them.

“Ah! He got you good, Hunnie!”

“Good one," Sehun hummed, opening his palm and ignoring Baekhyun's open one to slide the ring back onto his finger, pulling the smaller closer so he could feel breath on his forehead, “How’d you know?”

“Because I’m better than you.” Baekhyun cooed, patting his cheek mockingly and beaming as he walked into the living room and plopped down onto the carpet.

Jongin whistled, “Sexy and talented, you’ll fit right in sugar. Of course, you and I could you know.. be sexy together, let me teach you some things upstairs, in the bedroom.”

Baekhyun batted his lashes sweetly, fingers opening his burger, “In your dreams, honey.”

“Yeah. I think you will be.”

Baekhyun cackled and mused that he could definitely get used to this.


	12. Prequel: Practice

“Holy shit! Holy- fuck, Baek! You okay! Fuck, gorgeous, I’m sorry!”

Baekhyun grunted in response, hand covering his nose to try and stop the blood that was gushing down his nose, “My fault.”

Minseok’s eyes glittered with remorse, grabbing his arm, “You were supposed to block, Baek. That’s enough today.”

When Baekhyun agreed to come meet Chanyeol's “group” over two months ago he hadn’t expected things to progress this far.

This was the third time he’d gotten the shit kicked out of him during training, but he still hated face shots.

Not more than the others hated to see it though, because they’d always refuse to train with him again until he healed - Chanyeol's red faced rage when he saw marks on his face probably had a hand in that too.

Baekhyun also never expected to find people just like him, so similar.

But, also widely different.

He had noticed one their first meeting that Jongin looked as if he had just woken up and had been in pajamas, but it turns out that the man stayed here a lot - all of them did.

When Chanyeol claimed this as a safe house, he really hadn’t been kidding at all, because it seemed all the boys were hiding from something.

Jongin wasn’t secretive at all, so Baekhyun caught on to what was going on with his situation.

Or, lack thereof, because Jongin was on his own - literally.

“Take a seat, hold this there.” Minseok demanded, shoving a paper towel in his hand.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes before moving his hand, tasting blood on his lips when he licked them, “What? You don’t think it’s hot? Jun. it’s hot, right?”

“Sexy, baby,” The man answered as he walked by and into the garage where Baekhyun just accidentally took an elbow to the face.

Purely his fault for getting distracted.

“See.” Baekhyun smirked, leaning closer to Minseok with a flirty look in his eyes, “It’s sexy, Min. A little blood never hurt anyone.”

“First of all,” Minseok snickered, pushing his shoulders back into the chair, “Don't give me that fucking look intending on doing absolutely nothing for me, and secondly, your blood logic is so wrong. Never heard of bleeding out, baby face?”

Baekhyun pouted his lips, sighing dramatically as Minseok wiped the blood from his palms. “You don’t want me to not flirt with you, but you scold me when I do. How unfair.”

He eyed into the living room over Minseok's shoulder and rolling his eyes at Sehun and Kyungsoo yelling at each other over a card game, something about having a bad poker face.

“That’s because you don’t have anything to give, don’t flirt if you’re not willing to act on it, kay?”

Baekhyun whined when Minseok patted his hair mockingly, jumping to his feet with a pouty face as he walked into the living room to jump onto the couch between Chanyeol and Tao.

Chanyeok wrapped an arm around his shoulder instantly and Baekhyun dramatically sighed when he didn’t instantly give him attention.

But, Tao did with a concerned look, “You get beat up again? Need to be faster, Baek.”

Since the opportunity for attention was given, Baekhyun turned to curl up on his side, “Min won’t let me practice tactics with him.”

“That’s because you’re so good!” He heard Yixing coo across the room and smiled.

He then felt a hand wedging between his waist and Tao’s side, releasing a small squeal when Chanyeol yanked him away from the other and into his side instead, looking down at him.

Baekhyun beamed at finally having his attention, shifting to lay on his hip and draping his knee over Chanyeol's, “Won't let me flirt, Chan.” He pouted, pressing his chin into the man’s chest.

“That’s because..” Chanyeol drawled, gripping Baekhyun's chin in his fingers and brushing the bottom of his lip when he lifted his head, “... You need to fucking stop. You're too good and it’s giving me anxiety. Just practice with me only.”

Chanyeol had something possessive about him, something about the way he snatched Baekhyun and snapped teeth at the others when they got too touchy, the growling noises he’d make when Baekhyun got too touchy.

It almost led Baekhyun to believe Chanyeol felt something more than friendship.

But, he’d asked before. Just a small, awkward question to Kyungsoo about Chanyeol's behavior towards him when the man literally shrugged off everyone else’s touches - but his.

Kyungsoo cackled, claimed that Chanyeol didn’t feel anything more than he said, that Baekhyun was overthinking it. And that the same could be assumed about him because he also flirted with the others a lot.

Baekhyun never said it hurt his feelings, but it did. Even if he knew Chanyeol was not interested, Baekhyun was.

“Sometimes it’s not practice,” Baekhyun admitted, “Sometimes it’s just me.”

Chanyeol raised a brow at him, expression somewhat warning, “Then “just you” needs to chill.”

Baekhyun clenched his jaw at that because he did like when Chanyeol ordered him around - but not like this, not when he was trying to make it seem like he didn’t like how Baekhyun was.

“Chill?” Baekhyun scoffed, pressing his palm against Chanyeol's chest as he sat up, “As in to not flirt? Fuck you, I can do what I fucking want. I’ll flirt with whoever I want, fuck who I want.”

“Oh, calm down, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol ordered, “You act like everyone here has some obligation to want you. You're gorgeous, I'll give you that, but nobody wants you that badly, doll face.”

“Oh really?” He mused, standing up and crossing his arms, “Let’s see then.” He added, sending Chanyeol a mock smile before turning around to face the room.

“Who wants to fuck? I’m super pissed off right now.” Baekhyun said loudly.

Chanyeol eyed his back, leaning over into his knees.

Instantly, Sehun's hand shot up, the younger holding Jongin's hand down so the other couldn't raise it, and a few moments after more hands shot up.

“Sehun was first,” Baekhyun walked over to grab the others wrist, “Come on, baby.”

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol yelled in disbelief, “If you fucking walk o-“

“What, Chanyeol!” Baekhyun barked, him and Sehun standing by the front door, “You have something you want to say? Huh?”

Chanyeol swallowed hard, eyes shaking but unreadable as he crossed his arms without word.

“That’s what I thought,” Baekhyun scoffed, pulling Sehun out the door. “Coward.”

  
~~~~~~

“- can’t believe we got away with that! Holy shit!”

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun shoved a bag at Sehun's chest, “You have bigger hands. You hold it.”

Sehun beamed, tossing the liquor bottle between his hands back and forth, “Forget how good you are at distracting.”

“Please, I’m the best.”

Really, for Baekhyun it was easy.

All he really needed to do was rely on Sehun not to give them away and it had been relatively quick.

“We made a good couple, huh? Convincing?”

Baekhyun hummed in response, reaching up to feel the new necklace he had so kindly been given.

Before when stealing, Baekhyun hadn’t ever been able to go for big stuff, not things that were so guarded.

But, apparently with help nothing was out of bounds, Sehun was pretty good.

Plus, it had been Sehun's idea to dress nicely and Baekhyun was sure that's what really sold it.

As soon as they had left the house Sehun had been overly confused because they left the house and Baekhyun asked him for suggestions of what to do.

Fucking was what they were supposed to be doing, but Baekhyun had laughed and rolled his eyes, pointing out it was obviously just to make a point to Chanyeol.

Sehun liked to steal anyway, so the other didn’t seem too upset, if anything he was happier just spending time with him.

Baekhyun hadn’t stolen in a while, he didn’t exactly feel the need to do so when he had attention whenever he wanted it from his friends, so Sehun came up with a genius idea.

And it worked.

Now, Baekhyun was dressed in all black with a low cut shirt, a tan jacket over the top, and Sehun wore a nice turtleneck and slacks.

They looked ridiculous now, just walking back to the safe house dressed so nicely, but inside a high end shop they had looked like they belonged.

Baekhyun was pleasantly surprised by Sehun's ability to act polite when he knew the man to be perhaps the most blunt person ever, but it worked.

All his job was to talk up the shopkeeper and that was easy - talking was easy. Flirting was easy, and seducing was second nature to him.

“You should keep the alcohol. Not interested, I think it was like just his way of hitting on me,” Baekhyun snorted, patting Sehun's chest, “For you, baby,” He cooed, turning the corner.

“I definitely deserve more than that. That necklace on your neck is worth at least a few thousand, Baek.” Sehun rolled his eyes, “Was told this was a more intimate outing, honey.”

Baekhyun giggled, “You were also told not to steal when you were a kid, weren’t you? Seems like sometimes we just don’t listen, right?”

“That’s so unfair,” Sehun grabbed his waist with his unoccupied arm and pulled him back into his chest, “You wanted a distraction, babe, I have it.”

That was very much true, Baekhyun mused.

But, there was a huge issue with that.

“Chanyeol would be pissed, Sehun.”

“Since when do you listen to him?” Sehun laughed into his hair, moving to rest his arm around Baekhyun's shoulders, “Chanyeol doesn't own you.”

Baekhyun hummed in agreement, licking his lips a bit awkwardly as he crossed his arms over his chest, “But.. you know. I… I don’t know, I just.. Sehun, I want him, okay? I’m sorry.”

Sehun didn’t even look surprised in the slightest, turning to press a kiss to his temple purely because Baekhyun sounded so nervous, “I know. Still doesn’t mean shit. The problem is, Baek, that I.. we don’t know if he even cares that you do. It’s obvious to us, but Chanyeol is.. he has a lot going on. He worries us a lot, he’s aggressive and has the temper of a feral dog.”

Again. Sehun was right, but he didn’t sound like he was convincing Baekhyun of anything at all, more like he was just trying to explain something without being blunt and saying more than needed.

Secretive.

“So, I shouldn't get my hopes up.” Baekhyun finished, chewing on his bottom lip and looking at the sidewalk when Sehun pulled him to a stop.

“I’m saying,” Sehun murmured, setting the bottle of alcohol on the mailbox to his left and Baekhyun sighed when he wrapped both arms around his waist, their hips pressing close when Sehun pulled him in, “That if you need someone, I’m here. Okay? Not just for sex - but completely including it.”

Baekhyun laughed, wrapping his arms around Sehun's shoulders, “You must be really horny.”

“Just for you, babe,” The other chirped, leaning down to press his forehead to Baekhyun's, “Seriously. Whatever you need, Baek. A distraction, someone to beat up.”

Laughing, Baekhyun pressed his chin into Sehun's collarbone, standing on his toes, “So, if I said let’s fuc-“

“Hey!”

Baekhyun jumped about three inches at the sound of the front door opening and Chanyeol’s deep, booming tone.

“It’s dark as fuck, get in here before I lock you both out!”

“What was that? Ignore him.” Sehun asked.

Baekhyun shrugged, letting Sehun go and taking a step back, “I was just going to say let’s go inside,” He lied, “That's all.”

And then he turned to walk down the steps towards the door.

He wasn’t sure exactly what Chanyeol saw, but the clenched jaw suggested he saw more than Baekhyun wanted him to.

It was ridiculous Baekhyun felt bad when, as Sehun pointed out, he wasn’t anything to Chanyeol.

“What are you wearing?”

“What? Gonna make fun of me?” Baekhyun hissed, walking up the stairs and into the first bedroom he saw, fingers moving to take off his necklace.

All of the rooms had the bare minimum - like the rest of the house. A king sized bed, a vanity, but other than that it was just small decorations people had been slowly bringing in, extra bedding and clothes scattered all over.

At this point he had no idea what was his or not and just chose randomly from piles if he didn’t go home that day.

“No,” He heard Chanyeol shut the door and sighed, “Was going to say you looked good, but I guess not.”

“I don’t need your compliments. Get out, I’m going to sleep.”

“Too bad, all the other rooms are full.”

“Sleep on the couch, asshole.”

Chanyeol chuckled, “Luhan is there.”

Baekhyun cursed under his breath, tossing his jacket into the pile of clothes by the closet and undoing his belt, “Don't care. Sleep on the fucking ground.”

“Think you forget it's my house,” He felt arms wrap around his hips and hated how quickly he felt relaxed, “My house, baby boy.” Chanyeol murmured into his hair.

“Why are you in here?” Baekhyun leaned back against his chest, pulling the belt from his jeans, “We didn’t fuck. We just robbed a jewelry store.”

He knew that’s what Chanyeol was waiting for, it was obvious the way the man held his waist tighter, pulling his hips flush against his and digging his chin into Baekhyun's shoulder, “Yeah? Let’s see what you guys got, beautiful.”

Baekhyun felt a lot better to hear how soft Chanyeol's voice had gotten, no longer the sharp almost warning edge to it.

“This,” Baekhyun stuck his hand into his pocket to pull out a shining watch, “A necklace, a few rings. Sehun has the rest.”

Chanyeol released him to take a seat on the bed, looking at the watch and grabbing the necklace from the end of the bed.

Baekhyun turned to walk over to the pile of clothes, stripping down to boxers to put on a plain shirt from the pile and feeling eyes in his back.

“Really proud, doll, these look really expensive.”

“They were,” Baekhyun smiled to himself at the praise, “Sehun did good. I just distracted. Was mostly him.”

Chanyeol hummed deeply, setting the items on the side table, “You gonna make me sleep on the floor?”

Baekhyun giggled, climbing into the bed and smiling when Chanyeol brushed a hand over his cheek, “I will next time you piss me off, babe. Don’t try me.”

“Deal.”


	13. Prequel: BB

Baekhyun was so fucking bored today.

Most of the others weren’t at home recently, out doing their own things which unfortunately meant that he had to take a bus to get to the safe house because Chanyeol hadn’t answered his phone and he was the only one with a car.

Well, Luhan did too, but the man actually worked - surprising - but true.

“Fucking-“ He stomped in a puddle as he walked from the bus stop towards the house, making a quick run for the door.

He burst through with a sigh, looking at the water rolling off his windbreaker.

“Guys! Anyone here!”

He didn’t hear a response, removing his coat and shoes at the door and stomping upstairs.

Baekhyun was slightly angry and pouty. He came all the way here for attention and didn’t have it immediately.

“Guys?” He continued, pushing open the first door to his left, it was empty.

“- yeah, we’re going to have to ask for more money, Chanyeol is using so-“

Baekhyun grinned at the sound of voices, bursting through the door, “Hi! It’s raining so much-“

He cut himself off at the scene.

Kyungsoo and Yixing were sitting on the carpeted floor, small bags in their hands and piles of pills between them sitting on a pillowcase.

“Hey, Baek. What were you saying?” Yixing greeted, continuing packaging.

“I… what's that?” Baekhyun dropped his fingers off the doorknob and hoped that it wasn't what he thought.

He didn’t care about drugs, but from what tiny bit he heard…

“What the fuck is that?” He demanded again, storming over to grab Kyungsoo’s hand for his attention, “What the fuck.”

“Huh?” Kyungsoo raised a brow at him, “Why are you being so weird. It’s Chanyeol's, we’re just distributing.”

Baekhyun's jaw clenched, dropping to his knees and picking up one of the pills.

“Dumbass is cutting so many deals short. If he keeps this up Byun might as well sell solely to Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo joked over his head towards Yixing.

“Byun..”

Baekhyun swallowed hard as he ran his finger over the engraving on the pill.

The familiar **BB** wasn’t something he cared about, in fact the pills weren’t what had angry tears springing to his eyes, it was the implications of their words.

“Bullshit,” He growled, throwing the pill into the pile and Yixing and Kyungsoo turned to him in disbelief.

“What the hell, Baek!”

“No more!” Baekhyun yelled, “You don’t fucking have this shit here! I don’t want to see it more than I need to, okay! Can’t stay home - can’t come here! Where can I fucking go then!”

The two looked at him wide eyed, shocked.

“Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo raised his hands up, “Calm down, Bambi, just breathe.”

“Did you know-“ Baekhyun breathed heavily, “Byun is my dad? I - I can’t catch a break can I! Tell me, nobody is using this shit, right! Ch-Chanyeol just sells, right!”

Silence answered more than words could.

“I-Oh, fuck,” Baekhyun felt his legs go weak, a few tears falling down his chin as he grabbed his forehead, “You- Yixing! You're a fucking med student! Wh-why would you let him!”

“You know how Chanyeol is, Baekhyun,” Yixing sounded apologetic and regretful, “What he wants, he gets. You don’t.. know what you think you do about him, okay? W-“

“Where is he?” Baekhyun hissed, “Where the fu-“ He reaches down and hit the bag out of Kyungsoo's hand, “Where is he!”

“What the fuck! He’s in the room at the end of the hall, psycho!”

Baekhyun hissed and spun on his heels to run out.

This room wasn’t one they went in on a regular basis, not even just to sleep in, it was storage.

Storage for guns, for ammo, vests.

Junmyeon named it their “raid room” and Baekhyun at the time thought it was a fitting name considering the amount of things piling up.

But it wasn’t somewhere to hangout in, much less someone high as all hell.

Baekhyun burst through the door.

He didn’t even have time to take in much more than Chanyeol laying in a pile of blankets by the wall, before he was running over and giving him a hard smack to the face. “You stupid fucker!”

He wasn’t all that surprised when Chanyeol stared at him, just staring without looking as shocked as someone who just got slapped should.

“.. hey, babe,” He said, voice calm, eyes half lidded as he raised an arm to touch Baekhyun's hip.

Baekhyun hissed under his breath, pushing Chanyeol's palm away and his chest so he’d lay down, and as he moved to straddle him to keep him there his knee bumped something hard.

“Y-Yo..” Baekhyun swallowed hard before hitting Chanyeol's chest, “Fucking idiot! You fucking idiot! You're a stupid, stupid man!”

His hand wrapped around the bottle of alcohol and tossed it away without so much as looking, “Can’t you see I’m fucking pissed! How much did you take? How much did you drink! You're crazy!”

Considering Baekhyun was near tears again, he thought he was handling it completely fine when the man he was extremely enamored with was high as fuck on benzodiazepines and mixed it with alcohol.

Yeah, he could have come in much worse.

But Chanyeol was so out of it Baekhyun couldn't say what he wanted because he wanted him to be able to fight him without having to constantly check if he was still awake or not.

“... I-I.. a lot? Don’t.. d-don’t know, you look so-o good.”

Baekhyun curled his hands into fists on Chanyeol's chest, and he didn’t want to hear Chanyeol unable to get a sentence out at an abnormally slow rate ever again.

It wasn’t him at all, even if it very much was .

“You look like a dumb fuck.” He spat.

Chanyeol didn’t seem put off or as if he felt much more than like he was in another world, one that was on clouds, “Kiss me,” He spluttered, words mangled together oddly. “... You’re...So.. so hot, B-Baek.”

“You think I’m going to kiss you when you can’t even say my name right?” Baekhyun scoffed, “Please. I’m only not leaving you here just in case you choke on your own spit or something, you should go to the fucking hospital - I..”

He swallowed hard and sighed, “You can’t do this, okay? Ch..Chanyeol, babe, you can’t be doing this. I care about you, and I don’t.. it hurts, really bad if you have to go to the ER. And I don’t want you to have to go through that. Alright? I- I don’t, I don’t want to lose you too. Not anyone I c-care about, so please, please Chanyeol. Don’t-“

His voice cracked and he leaned down to place his face in Chanyeol chest, inhaling the strong scent of alcohol that stung his nose, but it was Chanyeol, so it was okay.

“... sh, s-something… you want to say? Baby.”

Baekhyun could have laughed at how hard Chanyeol was trying to keep it together, the man probably knew this was serious, but was too lost to form what he was trying to say, taking too long, the words sounded jumbled, but spread out.

Like they took both too much and not enough effort to create.

“Babe,” He sat up with a sniff, leaning over so his chest was pressed against Chanyeol's and placed his palms beside the man’s face.

Chanyeol grinned dazily, hand coming to cup the back of his head like he was positive Baekhyun was going to kiss him.

“Crazy,” Baekhyun murmured, lips brushing Chanyeol's cheek, “You have to stop. I.. Chanyeol, if you don’t.. if you don’t I’m gone, do you understand me?”

Chanyeol blinked and slowly his face contorted into a mix of anger and sadness.

“I’m gone, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun repeated, blinking tears away, watching one roll off Chanyeol's cheek and brushing the hair off the man’s forehead, “O-okay?” His voice cracked, “No more. I swear I’ll leave you. I’ll leave you here, and I won’t ever come back. Understand me, handsome? I won’t watch you die.”

“.... no.”

“Yes.” Baekhyun growled firmly, taking Chanyeol's face between his palms and surging down to press a soft kiss to his mouth, sighing as he felt Chanyeol's lips move just as he pulled his lips from the man’s, “And that would be it. That’d be the only kiss you’d ever get from me, when you’re high and drunk. When you probably can’t even form words right. Can you even feel right now? Can you see that I-I’m spilling my… my heart out, and you.. you can’t even respond. You can’t even… you can’t even hold me tightly.”

“I…” Baekhyun released his cheek only to start rubbing his brow as he waited for Chanyeol to be able to catch his thoughts, which took a long while, “.... y-you can’t go. ‘M not.. not dying. Can… c-can feel you .. b’ab..y.”

“Yeah.” The smaller whispered, thumb brushing under Chanyeol's eye, “You're not dying on my watch. Go to sleep,” He ordered, resting his ear to Chanyeol's chest, “Go to sleep and I’m going to make sure you’re still here. Not letting you die, crazy.”

  
~~~~~~

“-fucking, oh, fuck.”

Baekhyun's eye popped open and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Chanyeol's back, the man leaning over the edge of the blanket with his head between his knees.

He recognized the frantic way Chanyeol held his own head instantly, sitting up and surprised to find a blanket tucked all around him, kicking it off and crawling over to wrap his arms around Chanyeol's back, pressing his lips to the back of his neck and combing the hair on the nape of his neck, “Sh. It’s okay. I’ll get you water.” He cooed.

Chanyeol grunted and Baekhyun pressed a kiss below his ear before quickly standing to his feet and walking over to the bathroom.

He grabbed one of the small paper cups beside the sink and filled it up, knowing he’d have to make a run downstairs to grab supplies for the hangover Chanyeol was going through.

“Here. I’ll go get you some juice, I’ll take your car to the store and get you things. Okay?” He cooed, pressing a kiss to the crown of Chanyeol's head as the man gulped the water in one sip. “I know, handsome. I-“

“Don’t bother,” Chanyeol threw the cup across the room and detached from Baekhyun to lay back down on the blankets, throwing an arm across his eyes, “I just need more.”

Baekhyun first thought he misheard, because there was no way Chanyeol was suggesting he dose him with more pills when the man could have died hours before.

“You- did you not listen to a thing I fucking said?” Baekhyun kept his voice low, cutting, “Is caring about you not enough for you? Y-I won’t go through this again, Chanyeol. You think I’m kidding? You take one more and I leave. It’s me or the fucking pills.”

Chanyeol groaned and he knew it was unfair to try and have this conversation when the man was probably going through hell, but Baekhyun was livid.

He pushed Chanyeol's arm out of the way as he climbed over to straddle his waist, instantly leaning down to capture the man’s mouth in his.

The groan that came from Chanyeol this time wasn’t pained, but instead surprised, arms moving to grab Baekhyun's hips and hold him in place as he sat up, setting the smaller on his hips as he sucked on Baekhyun's lip.

“Y-you- j-“ Baekhyun moaned, dipping his fingers under Chanyeol's collar, “Fuck me. Chanyeol, please.”

“Yeah?” Chanyeol muffled against his neck, biting at the sensitive skin as if he hadn’t been in excruciating pain a moment before.

Baekhyun nodded, breath catching as Chanyeol turned them around, laying his hips down against Baekhyun's.

He could feel the man hardening just from tasting his tongue.

It wasn’t a secret that they lusted for each other - not at all - they never had tried to pretend they didn’t.

But Chanyeol’s hands pushing up his shirt and wrapping around his waist, undoing his jeans and kissing at any exposed skin.

This wasn’t lust.

But something much more, something that scared Baekhyun too much to say, to admit even in his own head.

But he could feel it simmering in his chest - as butterflies in his stomach - as Chanyeol’s lips against his throat.

“Got you, baby. I got you,” He heard huffed into his ear before Chanyeol stood up, leaving Baekhyun to finish pulling his boxers off - the only thing Chanyeol had yet to remove from him.

His eyes followed Chanyeol around the room, saw him grab a bottle off the vanity and knew it probably wasn’t lube, probably some kind of oil that Baekhyun really wouldn't prefer to use, but was completely willing for Chanyeol.

To be able to hold him close.

Baekhyun was a bit of a spoiled brat, but not too picky for things that had to do with Chanyeol.

His eyes followed Chanyeol to watch him remove his shirt.

Months of being friends, of practically living with them and he’d still never seen Chanyeol in anything less than a t-shirt.

Maybe the bruises were why.

Maybe the whitish scars on his shoulders and back were why.

Baekhyun had too much on his mind right now, first, was to make sure Chanyeol was okay, that he would be safe.

That he’d try to stop.

Then, he’d ask - if all went well.

“Is this okay?” Chanyeol was laying between his legs again, this time nude and erections brushing, pressing his mouth to the corner of Baekhyun's, “Baekhyun, I’ll be careful and get lube for next time.” He promised, opening the jar.

For next time.

Baekhyun swallowed hard and nodded, “I know. It’s perfect, babe. Perfect. You're perfect.” He whispered, grabbing the back of Chanyeol's neck to pull him down to his mouth.

~~~~~~

Baekhyun's fingers were running along his shoulders, tracing a rather faded arrow tattoo that sat on his shoulder blade.

But he couldn’t stop his fingers from lingering along the soft skin that wasn’t supposed to be that way. The lighter colored, some of them slightly pink, scars.

Along the side of Chanyeol's ribs was a blotchy, blue bruise, Baekhyun couldn't help resting his hand over it for a second.

“Beautiful. My baby doll.” He heard Chanyeol whisper, felt his hand grip onto his chin and smiled gently when his head was tilted up, pressing his lips to Chanyeol's softly, eyes closing and noses bumping.

Baekhyun didn’t think he’d ever felt so content in his life than to be in Chanyeol's arms, wrapped naked in blankets and in a room that housed bulletproof vests, knives, and guns.

Those weren’t the important details though.

That was the way Chanyeol was cooing under his breath, whispering his affection into Baekhyun's forehead, lingering his palms against the softness of the smallers skin.

Just weeks ago Baekhyun practically had a hissy fit because of Chanyeol ignoring or otherwise not giving him enough attention.

Assuming the worst and that maybe, just maybe Chanyeol had no interest in him at all.

He had proven his own thoughts wrong when Chanyeol was hovering over him, pressing his lips against Baekhyun's and sharing the same moans.

_So pretty, god, you're so gorgeous, Baekhyun._

_Should’ve done this sooner, baby, you’re amazing. My pretty fox._

_Look at me kitten, keep your eyes on me, I want to see your eyes._

It was too intimate for just unemotional and lust filled sex.

Not the kind of sex Baekhyun always knew he was going to eventually have with Chanyeol, the sex he knew would make him cry after because the man didn’t share the same feelings as him.

But Chanyeol did. If anything, much more intensely than Baekhyun did, never wanting to look away from his face for a moment, continuously kissing him like a man starved of affection.

That made Baekhyun's plan all that more urgent, because he couldn’t.. continue to develop and act on these feelings if Chanyeol… couldn't promise him he’d stop.

Baekhyun ran his palm over Chanyeol's collarbone to cup his jaw, pressing a hard kiss onto his mouth.

So intense he felt Chanyeol moan softly before pulling away, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth before rolling over and towards the edge of the blankets, reaching down to grab his boxers and jeans.

“What are you doing, come back here, silly.” Chanyeol cooed, sitting up on his elbow.

Baekhyun licked his lips as he pulled his boxers on, standing up to put on his jeans, “I told you, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol frowned.

“This is it. I told you, and I-I spelt it out for you. It’s me or it’s not, okay? It’s me or.. or you can take pills until… until they find you dead in a pile of your own vomit, alright? And I won’t stick around for it.”

“Woah, woah,” Chanyeol began, sliding off the blankets to nakedly climb to his feet.

Baekhyun took a step back when he approached, jaw clenched, “I fucking told you.”

“That.. that’s not fair, Baekhyun. You didn’t.. give me a chance to respond, okay? You don’t get to just make decisions like this.”

“So what’s your response then?”

Chanyeol’s head tilted and Baekhyun saw his tongue prodding the inside of his cheek in thought.

He scoffed, buttoning his jeans and looking around for his shirt. “It shouldn’t even need time to think about, Chanyeol!” He spat.

“So.. so that’s it?”

Baekhyun jumped at Chanyeol's yell, wrist being grabbed.

“You just fuck me and leave?” Chanyeol added, vein visible on his temple as he grabbed Baekhyun's face, “You just.. just played me and fucking leave me, Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun's nose scrunched up in anger, “That’s what you always wanted, _babe!”_

Chanyeol’s eye twitched and he held his wrist in his palm tightly, “You’ve got to be fucking crazy to think I’m letting you just walk out of here. Everything you know, everything you…”

He cut himself off and Baekhyun laughed in his face, eyes watering, “You gonna kill me, Chanyeol? Kill me after finally having sex. It’s what you’ve been begging for, _crazy._ Do it. There’s plenty of guns in here, let me choose one for you. Or, you want to be a man, here,” His hand reached up to grab Chanyeol's palm that held his cheek, pulling it down to his throat and holding Chanyeol's fingers down around his neck, “Look me in the eyes and fucking do _it.”_

Chanyeol gritted his teeth as Baekhyun moved his hand off of Chanyeol's, dropping it to his side and standing even closer, daring him to put pressure on his throat.

“You’re so selfish.” Chanyeol whispered sharply, “A selfish bitch .”

“What’s new, Chanyeol?”

“That,” Chanyeol's eyes flicked down to his hand, moving it down Baekhyun's collarbone, “I was going to say you.. everything you’ve done making me.. feel like this, and you leave? Will you, Baekhyun?”

His tone was no longer a yell, in fact it wasn’t even a whisper with how quiet it was, his fingers running over Baekhyun's skin softly, “Don't leave.”

Baekhyun's face contorted into unbearable pain, throwing his head down on Chanyeol's chest, “I won’t.. watch you die, I can’t.”

“Then you won’t,” Chanyeol's arms wrapped around his shoulders and dug his chin into his hair, “You won’t. Promise. I promise. Choose you, I always choose you, Baekhyun. Okay? Okay, baby, so dry those tears. It wasn’t a thought that crossed my mind.” Bringing his hand to comb the back of Baekhyun's hair he pressed his lips by his ear, “I’m selfish, but not an idiot, I choose you.”

Baekhyun dryly cried into his skin, arm curling around his shoulders when Chanyeol pulled him down into the blankets, “T-Thank you, thank you.”

“Shush, kitten. It’s fine. We’re fine, more than fine. Okay?”

“We’re not going anywhere, either of us, baby boy. Sh,” Chanyeol combed through his hair, kissing the side of his face as Baekhyun slowly started tugging out from his hiding place in his chest. “Hey, beautiful. My gorgeous, favorite person, no more tears.” He ordered softly, thumbs catching the tears from Baekhyun's skin.

Baekhyun took a deep breath, grinning slightly and tangling fingers into black locks when Chanyeol pecked his lips, sighing as he placed his palm on Chanyeol's chest for support to sit up.

“I’ll do better,” Chanyeol mumbled, pressing a kiss to his nose, then forehead, “Do better, baby. Really, promise.”


	14. Prequel: FWB

Chanyeol was extremely handsome, it wasn’t a question or up for debate.

It wasn’t arguable or even disputable.

It was a fact, and Baekhyun had the honor of seeing him in so many different ways, as close as he wanted, to feel as much of his skin as he liked.

To watch the way his nose scrunched when he laughed, the irritated clench of his fists when he was pissed off, the curve of his smile when Baekhyun kissed him.

Very handsome.

“Chanyeol?”

“Yes, baby doll?” The man replied, walking around the room and messing with an ammo cartridge.

Baekhyun sat up on his elbows, running his eyes over the red marks on Chanyeol's back.

Those were absolutely from him, the small scratches, the dark hickeys around his neck, below his ears, marked into his collarbones.

But, the bruises weren’t, the scars certainly weren’t, the long, scabbed over cut on his hip was definitely not Baekhyun's doing.

The past month he’d been wanting to ask, they were together so much more often, sleeping together so much that it wasn’t even a secret anymore.

Not when Baekhyun was caught red handed, hair a mess and hickeys on his jaw.

It had been his idea not to tell the others to spare their feelings, because Baekhyun wasn’t an idiot, he knew there were mixed feelings flying around. Unrequited feelings.

The irony when he was the one that was caught.

Chanyeol hadn’t been shy at all about it though, a winning grin on his face when he was being yelled at by the others.

Baekhyun decided he liked it because Chanyeol was all snapping teeth and a feral dog when one of them tried to tease or even suggest something sexual towards him.

Cute. Chanyeol’s jealousy was adorable even though it was terrifying.

“Who’s hurting you?”

All at once Chanyeol stood up straight, spine cracking from how fast he spun to look at Baekhyun, “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The.. bruises, Chan.” Baekhyun frowned, leaning over to pull the blanket into his lap as he sat up on his knees, “Come here.”

Chanyeol ignored his request with an anxious turn of his head, not dissimilar to the erratic tick of his head Baekhyun had seen him do just about a thousand times by now, but it wasn’t.. the same, it was less angry and more painful looking, more clenched jaw than curled fists.

“Babe, come here.” Baekhyun repeated, patting the bed, “Let’s-“

“What do you know about family, huh?”

Baekhyun jumped, startled, “I didn’t.. I didn’t say anything-“

“Mind your own business, Baekhyun. You don’t know shit!”

“Oh… okay, okay, come here.” He murmured, “Chanyeol, get your ass over here now.”

Chanyeol made a quiet growling noise, dropping the clip in his palm onto the ground and climbing onto the bed, dropping his cheek into Baekhyun's blanket covered lap.

Baekhyun felt better when Chanyeol was closer when he brought up subjects he knew the other avoided or otherwise didn’t like.

At least then, if Chanyeol got worked up, he could latch on like a leech and keep him from doing something fucking crazy .

He was nicknamed that for a reason after all.

“Waited for you to pick me up after classes, you didn’t show - again, I was worried. Then, you come back with these…” Baekhyun brushed his fingers lightly over a bruise on his shoulder blade, “... secrets aren’t secrets if everyone knows but me, handsome. That’s just rude.”

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol tried to sit up and Baekhyun swiftly laid a plan between his shoulder blades to hold him down - he knew if Chanyeol really wanted he’d be gone, Baekhyun was getting good at fighting, but not that good.

But, Chanyeol was the best of them all, and even then he and Baekhyun didn’t practice much together these days because they claimed Chanyeol went too easy on him - he did, everyone noticed, because it wasn’t possible for Baekhyun to get him down, but Chanyeol always pretended to let him.

“So, we’re going to make a deal,” Baekhyun continued, “I’m going to tell you something, then you’re going to tell me something.”

“Let me make a deal then,” Chanyeol suggested, sitting back on his knees, “You agree to be my boyfriend, I’ll agree to your.. proposal.”

Baekhyun's smile was wiped clean, sitting back against the headboard and sighing deeply.

“... just kidding, baby. I agree, just kidding.”

He wasn’t, Baekhyun knew that.

Chanyeol had been asking practically since the others found out two weeks prior, nearly begging.

And Baekhyun, while guilty, shut him down everytime.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, he did, too much.

That was an issue, but the biggest problem was Chanyeol thought he was invincible or some shit.

It scared Baekhyun.

The difference between burying a friend (who he had sex with) and his boy friend were grand.

Baekhyun was already happy enough to have such an important space in Chanyeol's life, to see him so vulnerable, to hear the sweetest - and odd - things fall from the man’s lips.

But being friends with benefits implied they didn’t feel strongly about each other to date, but felt just enough lust for the other to have sex.

Boyfriends implied love, or at least something similar to it. Affection, fondness, protection .

Chanyeol wanted all of that, Baekhyun did too.

But Baekhyun would rather keep a safe distance because if.. Chanyeol died then he’d rather not have the right to claim responsibility for his heart. Even if he did.

He’d rather not have to be known and reminded so often that his boyfriend loved him, that it was past tense rather than present.

He was tired of losing everyone, tired of the pity in others' faces when they looked at him.

_Oh poor boy, his mom died. What a shame._

_You ever need anything, let us know, it’s what your mother would have wanted._

_Oh? That’s his brother? Really? We should go say our condolences._

_Your brother was a great guy, Baekhyun._

It could easily be added to the ache. It could quickly turn out to be Chanyeol on his list, digging a hole in his chest.

_Park Chanyeol’s boyfriend? Wow, we’re so sorry for your loss._

_You two must have been a beautiful pair, how horrible he died so young._

_Baekhyun, he always loved you, just remember that._

Baekhyun just really, really didn’t want to have to deal with the pain of someone so close to him… not being there.

Chanyeol argued that Baekhyun must not feel enough for him.

That wasn’t the problem, it was very much the opposite, but Chanyeol was badly tempered and used anger to cover up a lot of his issues.

“Lost my mom, Chan.” Baekhyun leaned over to grab Chanyeol's palm, yanking his arm towards him, “Benzos, same exact ones you… you’ve been avoiding. So proud of you, babe. But… y-you don’t know, it.. she just.. just was gone, I was like.. twelve? Maybe younger? She must have been so.. I don’t know, she seized, hit her head all alone. The bathroom was just.. cold? You know? Just.. empty even when I looked at her, she looked cold.”

“Baek, hey,” Chanyeol's fingers came to his jaw, brushing the underside of his lip, “Stay with me. We’re talking now.”

Baekhyun swallowed hard and reached out with his arms spread, and Chanyeol was always ready to accept him into his arms, regardless of when, where - who was around. And he always felt a bit warmer.

“Used to have a big brother.” He whispered, pressing his nose into Chanyeol's cheek, “When I was sixteen he.. was stabbed by a rival gang raid. My dad he.. just sells drugs now, doesn’t really pay me much attention at all.”

Chanyeol hummed in his ear, hand running down his spine to rest on his naked tailbone, fingertips lingering over his ass, but not in a sexual way, more possessive if anything at all, protective.

“Okay, gorgeous boy.”

Baekhyun smiled fondly into his collarbone, pressing a wet kiss to his skin.

“What? You like that?” Chanyeol's voice always shook his core, chuckling against his ear, “Because you are, Baekhyun. Gorgeous. Smart, little fox.”

Baekhyun's toes curled up at the growl like tone, Chanyeol laughed into his ear and Baekhyun realized he probably made it obvious, made some noise that told Chanyeol he did like the nicknames and praise, very much so.

“Okay, sexy.” The man pulled his face back and kissed the corner of his lips, before grabbing the back of his knees and pulling his legs out from under him.

Baekhyun squeaked, laying back against the bed and smiling when Chanyeol made himself at home as his blanket, legs curling over Chanyeol's hips and arms wrapping around his ribs.

“Okay, lets talk, baby boy,” Chanyeol crooned, placing his elbows beside Baekhyun's head.

The smaller couldn't help himself, leaning up to connect their lips for a kiss, open mouthed.

But, Chanyeol made it softer than he normally would, keeping his tongue to himself and pecking gently at his lips rather than anything intense.

Kisses like these both made Baekhyun's heart race and stop, because they made him so fond, happy, but.. incredibly guilty.

Chanyeol wasn’t one to be extremely emotional, not even very romantic per say.

But, he still found ways to show deeper affection, to place a wall up and separate the difference between simply lust… and greater things that Baekhyun was scared to acknowledge.

Chanyeol was aggressive, rough, had a tendency to yell red faced than talk things through, and recently pulled guns on everyone - even Sehun a few times - even though Baekhyun was sure he wouldn’t pull the trigger.

But, in the end he was just Chanyeol, and that’s how he was. Rough, rude, irritating.

Also caring (albeit coldly), protective, possessive. Loving .

“You probably think, hm, Chanyeol must look pretty weak, all those scars. Those bruises..”

Baekhyun hadn’t been thinking that at all, but kept his mouth shut.

“... truth is, that’s what means I’m strong. Stronger than a lot.. a lot of people. So many,” Chanyeol smirked, kissing the side of Baekhyun's face, he whispered an, “Impressive, huh?”

And it didn’t matter what exactly Chanyeol was referring to because Baekhyun was always impressed with him, so the smaller kissed his throat and hummed in agreement.

“Daddy issues, remember?” Chanyeol laughed, “Me and you both, babe. Your dad.. a spineless coward that hides behind a building and guards because he’s scared to be robbed of precious.. precious pills… killing ones...” He tsked, “... can’t even see how good his little boy is, hm? Doing so well, becoming rich with jewels. A little fox. Got his baby stolen right out from under his nose, little boy is mine now.”

Baekhyun laughed softly, scratching gently at Chanyeol's spine and turning his head to the side with a content grin as the man kissed down the side of his neck.

“And then,” Chanyeol's teeth scraped his throat before sitting up to meet his eyes again, only this time with Baekhyun's favorite, swirling danger look, “You take a man that comes at his wife, a wife that comes at her husband, both angry, both hate each other, both want their child to.. to take over for them, to swim in dirty cash. You put a hard headed, narcissist between them and you get me, tough skin from hard hits and the pain tolerance of a fucking lion.. unless it’s a dick shot of course.”

Despite Chanyeol admitting so many disturbing things, Baekhyun couldn't help cackling at his smirk and humor. “Got you good, babe.”

Humming, Chanyeol pressed a kiss to his forehead, “Got me good, baby fox. First time I’ve been in actual pain in a while, it made me feel something.”

“Oh, kinky, wanna do it again sometime?”

Chanyeol snickered at Baekhyun's hand running down his spine teasingly, “If you want to be choked again, sure.”

Baekhyun burst into quiet laughter, pulling the back of Chanyeol's neck down quickly, probably a bit painfully, kissing the man’s nose and cheek a dozen times.

“Bit of a narcissist myself,” Baekhyun murmured into his cheek with a grin, “Perfect pair you and I. I think I’m pretty hot and deserve attention, you think you’re pretty hot and invincible. Sexy, babe.”

Chanyeol laughed, the kind of sound that came straight from his stomach, and a laugh nobody saw often - but Baekhyun did - he rolled them so Baekhyun was lying across his chest, bending his knees when Baekhyun sat up on his hips giggling, “For the record, you’re super hot. Completely entitled to all attention, Baekhyun.”

Humming, Baekhyun trailed his fingertip down Chanyeol's chest, “What a coincidence..” He cooed, stopping when his finger met a thin trail of hair below Chanyeol's belly button, “... I think I’m hot too.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, laughing with a loud, deep, scrunched nose at Baekhyun's mischief, “Take my clothes off, little demon. You’re never satisfied.”

Baekhyun beamed.


	15. Prequel: Sparing

Baekhyun was covered in sweat, it was dripping down his spine and it was _well_ past midnight.

He should be lying dead asleep with Chanyeol pressed against his back and the sweat _should_ be from being fucked so hard he couldn’t fucking breathe.

Unfortunately it wasn’t.

He was sweating like a maniac and not asleep because Chanyeol was certain Baekhyun wasn’t taking physical training seriously.

He was sort of right, because Baekhyun preferred to go the more promiscuous routes over physical violence.

He was well aware of his strengths and weaknesses, of how hard he could hit - and he was proud to say he _had_ nearly knocked Luhan out in one good, but rare hit before - but such strength from him was rare, and only when he was extremely pissed.

And he knew Chanyeol was aware of that because the man was _forcing_ him to stay awake, and everyone fucking knew how much Baekhyun absolutely loved his beauty rest.

Preferably curled into Chanyeol's side.

“That’s _it?”_ Chanyeol scoffed, “Stand up straight. Again. That wasn’t even _remotely_ painful. I didn’t feel shit.” 

Baekhyun hissed, knee cracking as he stood back up from where he was resting over his knees.

There was also a reason nobody put him against Chanyeol though.

Because the man was _rough_ and he was also very strong, sometimes unaware of his own strength.

But also because just a week before he had been trying to teach Baekhyun how to flip people off of him, and the smaller of the two preferred Chanyeol's heavy breathing in his ear much better.

Preferred Chanyeol _stay_ hovering over him so he could sink his teeth into the saltiness of his sweat covered shoulder.

All it really takes is a sly grin and a roaming hand and Chanyeol was quick to fuck him right where they were, on the mats in the garage.

Taking him so hard his head hit the cement wall and even then he squealed and begged Chanyeol loudly to go _faster,_ harder, and the man always did, throwing his hand up to cover the back of his head from hitting _too_ hard and fucking him so good Baekhyun _drooled._

To say everyone was tired of them fucking in the sparing room was an _understatement._

Baekhyun mused they were probably jealous it wasn’t them that was taking him as Chanyeol did, that it wasn’t their cocks he was choking on until he cried or being fucked so hard he had bruises that hung around for _weeks._

“Chan, i'm really _fucking_ done, babe.” He growled, fixing his pajama top over his collarbones and sending a glare towards the other.

“Don’t care,” Chanyeol brushed off, setting down his water bottle back on a metal folding chair. A few drops of it rolled down his bare chest and Baekhyun sighed because he’d _much_ rather have that sight over top of him instead of doing this for the past hour. “We aren’t stopping until you knock me on my ass. Everyone’s been on me about going easy on you, sorry, baby, but it’s true. Don’t want to hurt that pretty face and you take advantage of that.” 

_“Please.”_ Baekhyun snorted, “If anything it's you taking advantage, all I gotta do is send you a fucking _smile_ and you’re already hard.” 

Chanyeol chuckled deeply at that, running a hand through his sweaty hair and walking closer to pull Baekhyun's hips against his, ducking his head down to kiss the expanse of his neck. 

“We both know it’s you, gorgeous,” He mumbled roughly into his throat, hand tangling in Baekhyun’s hair and pulling his head to the side.

Baekhyun hummed in agreement, gasping softly at the hard tug to his hair.

“Because you’re a fucking _whore.”_

The smaller scrunched his nose up at that, fury pooling in his stomach when he locked eyes on the wide mocking grin on Chanyeol's face.

The man leaned over to lick the corner of his mouth and Baekhyun gritted his teeth.

He didn’t give a _fuck_ about being called a whore, literally his role in the gang was to seduce people and rob them blind.

But it was the word from _Chanyeol_ when they were not in the middle of fucking their brains out that pissed him off - and the man _knew_ it.

“Always so fucking used, Baekhyun, so loose,” Chanyeol added, skimming lips over his pulse.

“You never say that when you’re four fingers _deep_ and practically ready to cum in your fucking pants just from the _sight.”_ Baekhyun spat back.

He knew Chanyeol's intentions were to work him up, to piss him off, and knew these were completely _lies,_ because just hours before he’d had the man's head between his legs and praise sent in every direction.

Chanyeol knew Baekhyun didn’t sleep with anyone else - would likely lose his fucking mind if he ever did - and made sure to praise him for such, for being his and being so fucking perfect for him, kissing down his spine sweetly even if Baekhyun was choking for air with his mouth muffled in a blanket. 

“That’s because such an easy-“

Baekhyun snapped.

First _whore._

Now _easy?_

His fist came out to hit Chanyeol in the face instantly.

Baekhyun heard the impact, felt his knuckles ache, watched Chanyeol grab his face with a loud grunt.

Red dropped onto the mats and Baekhyun's eyes widened as he realized what he’d done, opening his mouth to apologize-

“Fuck. God-“

But Chanyeol was already yanking him towards him, teeth a mess of red and bottom lip completely busted open, “ _Fuck._ That’s my _fucking_ baby. So fucking hot.” 

Baekhyun sighed a relieved noise, barely making any more noise but heavy breathing when Chanyeol was manhandling him into his lap on the floor, “Babe, I’m s-“ He was cut off by his own quiet laugh when he shifted, ass resting over Chanyeol's dick and he could _feel_ how hard the man was, “- did you really like it _that_ much!” He giggled.

“Oh, baby fox,” Chanyeol purred, hand tangling into the back of his neck and licking the blood from his lip, “... can’t you _feel_ how much I like it? I think we’ve established you could beat the shit out of me and it'd be a _sexy_ sight.” 

The smaller smirked, leaning forward to move his legs to hang loosely over the back of Chanyeol's hips, teasingly giving a roll of his ass against the hardness and Chanyeol _groaned_ like a sex deprived animal, lips slightly open and gaze dark at Baekhyun.

“Those were rude to say to me,” Baekhyun pouted, lips pressing into Chanyeol’s cheek, trailing across his skin, “Make it up to me, Chanyeol.” 

He didn’t have to say anything really, because it’s been obvious from the start he was going to get fucking ruined, but Chanyeol yanked his mouth onto his bleeding one so roughly Baekhyun released a tiny whimper of pain.

It was instantly made up for with the taste of iron on his lips, the hand reaching to untie the drawstring on his pajamas, the grunting when Baekhyun sucked loudly over Chanyeol's split lip.

Like he was trying to suck the life out of him.

“Fuck.” Chanyeol shoved him off his lap when Baekhyun’s fingers dipped into the man’s sweatpants, softening the shove with a hand on the back of his neck, standing up, “Get on your knees, you trying to fucking _bleed me dry?”_

Baekhyun sucked his own lip into his mouth as he sat up on his knees, throwing his top to the side, already looking ruined with his tired eyes, messy hair, and blood covered lips. “Let me suck your dick like a _whore_ and then you can apologize and tell me how sorry you are, _crazy.”_

“Fuck, I’m already _insanely_ sorry. Now suck me off and I’ll have you screaming, kitten.”


	16. Prequel: Pills

“Where were you!”

Chanyeol grinned and laughed at the running from the brunette as he burst through the door, he leaned down the smallest bit to accept the excited runner.

“Missed you too, baby. Missed you, Baekhyun.” He cooed, swinging the smaller the tiniest bit and earning a squealing noise.

Baekhyun smelled like fresh flowers and it made Chanyeol grin, placing the other to his feet and running his palm down his back, “Did you have a good day?” 

Baekhyun was all giggles and grins as he grabbed Chanyeol's fingers, swinging his hands around before delivering a light hit to his chest, “So boring! When can we go on a mission together, Chan? So tired of working with Jongin!” 

“Got us one, doll, I’ll tell you later,” He crooned, pressing a kiss to Baekhyun's brow, “What's wrong with Jongin? He get caught?” 

“No,” Baekhyun pouted his lips, “Grabbed my ass this morning though.” 

Chanyeol’s smile dropped to a near deadly expression, teeth gritted together and ducking his head a little, “You’re kidding.” He demanded, eyes swirling as he looked through his hair, searching Baekhyun's face.

All it took was a small twitch of Baekhyun's lip, “Yeah. I am.” 

His shoulders dropped the tension they had, growling as he buried his head in Baekhyun's hair, “You're going to make me kill him. You’re going to make me lose it.”

Baekhyun giggled into his collarbone.

“Anyway,” Chanyeol chirped, pressing a kiss to Baekhyun's ear, “Got you a present.” 

He heard and felt Baekhyun's excited squeak, much like a child, “Where? Where! Where!” 

Laughing, Chanyeol watched Baekhyun jump away from him with a loud giggle, way too loud for it to be so late at night.

He truthfully had no idea if Baekhyun had been waiting for him to be back by the window and if that’s how he had the smaller one running out so quickly.

But, if it was Baekhyun not home, Chanyeol usually waited by the window too, so he understood the stress.

“Look at this,” He requested, petting Baekhyun's cheek with one hand and the other lifting up to Baekhyun's level, wrapped in plastic wrap, “Go ahead. Let me see your reaction.” 

Baekhyun had a boxy smile, something Chanyeol hadn’t really seen on another person before and supposed it was part of the charm Baekhyun had.

Which was a lot of charm, everything he did he could make it seem extremely charming.

He could make someone feel important just with a grin and a head nod, could argue for his way of the most ridiculous ideas or if he was in trouble.

Baekhyun could probably convince someone to do the most disturbing of things to another with just the grin and a few words.

Maybe he’d lie, promise a person for love - or his body.

It had worked before, Baekhyun read people like second nature, arguably better than Chanyeol and the man would admit as much.

He’d get cash in record amounts of time with the gang scrambling to seduce, convince, and pickpocket for cash.

Baekhyun always had the most to bring back.

He read what others looked like they needed, tested new phrases, promised and judged how well they worked on a specific person.

It was endearing, in a way, that Baekhyun's skills were solely based on how well he listened, how well he paid attention to people.

What a nice skill when in today’s society it seemed that’s all people _really_ wanted. 

A bit of attention, a nodding head, lies pouring from a pretty boys tongue.

Promise of affection, a hand gently running over a woman’s palm, a smile that could convince someone to burn a building down, a sympathetic look, fake tears, pretending to share feelings with complete and utter strangers.

And people ate that shit up. 

Like a moth to a flame Baekhyun chose the most vulnerable, picked from crowds and Chanyeol often watched, amazed or with an angry brow.

He watched so often now it was easy for him to pick out the moment Baekhyun got what he wanted, a watch slipped into his pocket, a hand that seemed to be promiscuous that now held a credit card.

If he was feeling really confident Chanyeol would see him flash him the handful of cash, of jewels right in front of the person, directly under their noses Baekhyun had dipped fingers into their coats.

And all he needed was to keep their eyes on his, make sure they didn’t look away for even a moment and Baekhyun was fine.

Chanyeol was the only person who had ever _noticed_.

Because Baekhyun got too cocky then, he had made the mistake of looking at his backpack out of the corner of his eye for only a second.

A normal person wouldn’t have noticed, but Chanyeol did, noticed the thin fingers skillfully shoving candy into his sleeve, it was so well orchestrated that he had to give Baekhyun props for how fast he was able to do it.

How absolutely amazing he was.

“Wow!” 

Chanyeol beamed, “You like it? For you, baby boy. Never going to forget about it when I see this. Won’t leave you so easily.” 

Baekhyun's fingers ran softly near the red, irritated skin on the area between Chanyeol's pointer finger and thumb. 

“Y-Yeah?” Baekhyun's voice cracked and Chanyeol cooed at him, bringing the soft head of hair closer to kiss the crown of his head.

On the area sat a simple design. 

A familiar, blue colored pill. 

Only it was marked out, a single red line running through the middle of it.

He knew it’d get a grand reaction from Baekhyun, a huge one.

But he expected it to be more on the aggressively horny side rather than the tearful, wobbly chin side.

“Oh, kitten,” Chanyeol purred, rubbing Baekhyun's spine, “You start crying and I'll start a fire. I’ll burn this fucking block down, Baekhyun don’t you fucking try me-“

Baekhyun sniffled, laughing and grabbing Chanyeol's face, “Kiss me you fucking idiot.”   
  


~~~~~~

Chanyeol forgot how fucking loud clubs were.

How obnoxiously loud the music was playing, how loud the people were, the stench of sweat and alcohol mixing.

But, undeniably the most fucking annoying thing in this entire club was watching the brunette dancing and unable to do anything but sip at his drink from his spot by the bar, on a stool.

“Hey, sexy-“

“Not interested,” Chanyeol barked, not even bothering to see who took up the seat beside him and tapping his foot on the floor.

“Asshole.” He heard the girl hiss.

He rolled his eyes, resting his elbow against the bar and licking his lips.

Baekhyun by himself was plenty sexy. He knew exactly what hid behind the silk top the smaller wore, the soft thighs that had ripped jeans hugging his legs.

And he was a fucking dream, fingers running through his own hair, eyes searching predator like - he was nicknamed fox for a reason after all. 

And the main thing was he was _Chanyeol's._

Not an inch of skin on the brunette was untouched by him, not any area hadn’t felt his lips.

Just a tug in the nape of his neck and Chanyeol knew Baekhyun sang like a fucking bird.

Gorgeous, and still… always Chanyeol's. His. 

But, Chanyeol was now more focused on the man that was now hugging close to Baekhyun's spine, the nerve of him to press so close to him when he was likely twice Baekhyun's age.

His arm went around Baekhyun's waist, almost enclosing around it and Chanyeol's hand tightened on his glass.

Baekhyun snatched it before he could, playing it off to use to dip under, a flirtatious smile on his lips and Chanyeol smirked.

“That’s my boy.” He mused, putting his glass down and watching intently.

He couldn’t read Baekhyun's lips, but if he could he knew it’d be something absolutely enchanting, flirtatious.

_How long you been here, sweetheart?_

_Good thing someone finally decided to join me._

_Think you can take care of me tonight?_

Baekhyun's practice had long been complete - not that he needed any at all, but it certainly helped that he had so many people to feed him lines.

Because they worked for the others. Luhan was good at using lines because he looked so vulnerable and weak, older woman really fell for Sehun when he played shy.

But, Baekhyun, Baekhyun could go for _anyone._

Shaking hands and nervous stuttering when he felt the need to, a puffed chest and a deeper tone when approaching women - some of them, others preferred he play stupid too - and sometimes it was all out just Baekhyun.

Just smirks, grins, teasing. 

It seemed tonight was one of those nights, because he saw Baekhyun's finger brush the man’s temple, a sweet gesture to onlookers, but the lowered head gaze and lifted corner of his mouth let Chanyeol know he was saying something absolutely dirty. 

Promising something that wouldn’t get further than a swift kick to the head if they tried more than Baekhyun was ready to deal with.

Chanyeol clicked his tongue, smacking his lips in an irritated fashion, hand running through his bangs. 

He wondered how filthy Baekhyun had gotten, if he was spewing about acts only they engaged in together.

Perhaps only telling a story, maybe how Baekhyun screamed when he was against a wall, how much he liked to be held up and absolutely _wrecked_.

Those wouldn’t be lies at all, and he knew Baekhyun found it easier when he spoke nothing but the truth.

Omitting that it was _Chanyeol_ that was the one holding his thighs up and causing the angelic like stuttered moans was part of the fun when he sat merely meters away.

How funny it’d be if Baekhyun pointed him out, “That’s the man that has me every night,” He’d say, “Because I deserve as much.” He imagined.

Chanyeol was lost in his own imagination, musing and wondering if it’d be fun to do that one day, have Baekhyun bring someone to their knees to worship him, feeding lie after lie - or story after story - only to break it for them.

Fantasies could be dealt with, hell, his own gang members he knew fantasied about his boy everyday. 

But, it was Chanyeol that owned him, that had him sweating and panting, whispering genuinely into his skin.

So, when Baekhyun's thin, pretty fingers were curled into the front of the man’s jeans - a man Chanyeol was reminded very much was _not_ himself.

He saw red. No. Not even red, pure blood, a hazy, blackened image.

“What the fuck,” He snarled. 

He knocked the stool down with how forcefully he stood up, shoving people as he went until he had yanked Baekhyun's shirt back, the seams crackling but drowned out in the music. 

“Fucking pervert!” He yelled, fist cracking the stranger across the face. 

“Chan!” 

Arms wrapped around his waist from behind.

“You motherfucker! You fucking touch him and I’ll kill you!” 

He had blood on his fist and didn’t even notice that his hit had the man knocked out on the dance floor, staring and gawking people watching him.

He’d just assaulted a man and felt nothing but pure anger.

Because Baekhyun was his. His. Mine. 

God Chanyeol wanted to hit him some more, kick him.

“You- you ruined it!” Baekhyun yelled in his ear.

Chanyeol didn’t respond, grabbing Baekhyun's wrist and yanking him towards the exit.

His vision was still blurred, obscured.

But he could see Baekhyun clearly.

“You fucking-“ Baekhyun ripped his arm out of Chanyeol's grip, walking along side him and crossing his arms, “You ripped my shirt!” 

“Buy you a new one.” 

“I was doing so well!” The smaller continued, face an angry red, “I was so close! Damn you, Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol knew he wouldn’t be able to stop the way his chest was heavy, the red in his vision and hand ready to hit, not until he addressed it.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” He turned and gave Baekhyun a shove, hand coming to cup the back of his head and pressing him into the side of a building, “They ever touch you, they're dead, yeah? You’re mine. Fucking _mine_. I should’ve put a bullet straight between his eyes.”

“I.. Chanyeol,” Baekhyun huffed against his jaw, arms wrapping around his neck, “He didn’t touch me. I touched him - as part of the plan.” 

“I don’t fucking _care_ .” Chanyeol hissed, teeth grinding together, “My hands are the only ones that go on you, alright! I can’t - Baekhyun, I will kill for you. I’ll kill for you, if it’s about you, if someone says your fucking _name_ in an offensive tone. If someone looks at you longer than needed. If I feel it’s necessary then I will _kill them_. Got it?” 

Baekhyun's breath caught and Chanyeol could feel his heart start beating normally when the smaller nodded, gently combing over his bangs, not dissimilar to how he’d touched the man’s only minutes before - but this had a meaning.

“If you do that for me, babe,” Baekhyun smiled, head resting back on Chanyeol's palm, closing his eyes and licking his lips, “God I’ll follow you forever.”

“Trust me.” Chanyeol growled, pressing his lips to Baekhyun's throat, “Keeping you for a long, long time, Baekhyun.” 


	17. Prequel: Messing Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: THIS WAS MENTIONED IN THE FIRST PART, BUT IT MAY BE DISTURBING; Rape aftermath, SEUNGRI IS NOT BASED ON A REAL PERSON (Or is it?), This IS a dark story so...

Baekhyun laughed under his breath, swirling the drink in his hand.

“You still working on that one?” 

He looked up at the bartender with a grin, “Yeah. Trying to be careful tonight, you know.”

The girl laughed before turning to walk towards the other end of the bar to serve someone else.

Baekhyun felt a bit odd to not feel eyes watching him, well, not Chanyeol's or one of his friends.

But, considering Chanyeol's massive destruction of all his hard work last time, he made the man stay outside, waiting for him at a cafe across the road.

He’d have preferred if Minseok or even Junmyeon had joined him, both of them were rather good at keeping to themselves, but both were also far too busy helping Kyungsoo and Yixing distribute and sell drugs.

“This seat taken?” 

Baekhyun hummed, turning to his left where a man stood, he was thin, a rather attractive older man, maybe a few inches taller than him.

Immediately Baekhyun got a sense of power when the man took a seat without his response, already tapping his fingers on the wooden bar to gain the bartender's attention. 

He decided to watch a bit longer, eyes catching the sparkle of a ring on his hand.

It looked like a family crest, an eagle, only the color was unrealistic, green wings and where eagles were white it was grey.

Ugly, Baekhyun mused to himself.

But, expensive.

It was his now, he decided - or, it would be his in a bit.

“It is now.” He answered, smiling as he rested on his palm, “What's a man like you doing here?” 

“Kim Seungri.” 

He stuck his hand out towards Baekhyun almost like Baekhyun was obligated to take it.

 _Never asked your name,_ he wanted to scoff.

But, he smirked, accepting the ice cold hand and tilting his head, “Baekhyun.” 

“Okay. Get this boy a whiskey.” Seungri ordered, yelling over the bar.

Baekhyun's lip twitched in annoyance because he hated being spoken for, “Oh. Don’t worry. I have a drink already-“

“Sh.”

His eyes literally widened, mouth falling open the smallest bit.

Did he just get shushed? Him?

Baekhyun was ready to call it a fucking day because there was no way in fucking hell he was just shushed.

Even Chanyeol knew he’d be down on the floor if he tried to silence him so rudely, and Baekhyun had kicked Jongdae’s knees out from under him for much less.

“Here, keep the change.”

And Baekhyun was once again interested as the man practically threw a hundred dollar bill at the bartender.

He could handle a bit of attitude for whatever this man had, he mused.

“Now.” Seungri turned to him, holding both drinks in his hands, “Let’s just get on with it, yeah? You’re young, you’re alone in a bar, so you’re either lonely or just a very young alcoholic. Which one?”

“Which one would you prefer?” Baekhyun joked, reaching his hand out towards the glass impatiently.

Seungri tsked, shaking a finger at him almost like a person would a child getting scolded, “Now. Now. You got somewhere to be? Or are you just an impatient little thing?”

 _Little thing?_ Baekhyun felt his finger twitch.

“The only place I need to be,” Baekhyun smiled and hoped it wasn’t too sarcastic, “Is right here, babe.” 

“Ah, no pet names. Gross.” 

Baekhyun turned his head the opposite way only to cover his mouth with his palm in an attempt not to kick this fucking guys teeth in because _who the fuck_ did he think he was to talk to him that way.

His eyes scanned out the window and he was somewhat upset he couldn’t see Chanyeol at the moment or else he’d switch up his plans and lead this man outside with a promise of a quick handjob in the alley or some shit - only to be met with a man who had an insane grin and fists like steel.

God he wanted to have this man beaten bloody within only the few minutes talking to him.

“Okay, boy. You can have your drink if you keep that mouth shut when I’m not asking something. Your voice is pretty… girly.” 

Baekhyun knew that was a fucking _lie_ because the only time he sounded fucking girly at all was on Chanyeol's dick and even then his lover ate it up with cooes and praise.

“Oh. Thank you,” He sighed instead, turning back to look at him and accept the glass - and god fucking knew he needed it to calm his patience and drank that shit in gulps, like an alcoholic as the man had mused he was.

Maybe he wasn’t too far off because Baekhyun felt he needed a million more glasses just to make it through this and rob him blind.

“So, tell me something interesting, boy.” 

Baekhyun sighed and pretended to perk up, “Well…” 

  
~~~~~~

The first thing that met his eyes was light. Bright, blinding light. 

His brows pulled together, a groan escaping his lips.

Baekhyun smacked his lips together and was surprised how fucking dry they were, his head spinning.

He squinted and turned his head towards the light that was blinking. In the window his eyes caught the blinking sign:

**Love Hotel**

Baekhyun gasped under his breath.

It was dark outside, but he could see the sun coming up.

When they left for the bar it had been late, around two, maybe three in the morning, but he couldn’t really recall much or even if that was correct. 

He was _almost_ positive.

Sitting up on his elbows he groaned.

God his spine hurt. 

His head was pounding and it didn’t help him focus at all, moving the blankets off his lap.

Baekhyun froze.

He couldn’t really remember exactly what had gone on.

A bar. A drink. Something about Chanyeol..

He hadn’t cheated on Chanyeol, had he?

His lip trembled as he sat up fully, feeling like he had been hit by a car and leaning over his lap with a hiss because he’d never felt like his body was so stiff in his life.

Baekhyun didn’t realize his hand was shaking until he reached up to grab his temple, looking around the room and he was absolutely and a hundred percent sure he hadn’t come here by choice.

He’d never in a million years walk into a room so fucking _trashed_. 

It was disgustingly dirty, food wrappers all over the room, the chair in the corner looked like a cat had shredded it, like it was used for target practice.

The television hanging on the wall was smashed, shards sticking out hazardously.

On the floor.. on the floor sat his clothes.

Baekhyun swallowed hard, mouth dry because it looked like a bear ate them up.

Moving slightly towards the end of the bed he felt a stinging sensation up his spine and gasped, legs feeling weak and heavy once he had his feet on the floor.

“Oh- fuck, ow,” His head was on fire, but it didn’t compare at all to the ache between his legs when he stood up, knees nearly giving out on him but he grabbed the wall. 

Baekhyun took a deep breath to calm himself down, but he was in an unfamiliar place, an unfamiliar room - naked - skin bare and couldn’t remember shit.

“Oh, god,” He felt a tear unwillingly slide down his cheek, palm clammy and shaking uncontrollably as he grabbed his hip where a huge, blackening bruise was, eyes catching another on his thigh, another in an awkward spot on his opposite leg. 

But, the trail of red was much more concerning.

“No. No. No- I-“

Baekhyun wailed quietly, looking at the bed and placing a hand over his mouth as his legs went weak, knees hitting the filthy carpet.

He couldn’t look at the small pool of blood any longer, leaning over his lap hyperventilating over his clothes.

His once nice clothes.

Baekhyun sucked in a breath and pulled them into his lap, his shirt was ruined, cut down the center almost like a jacket.

His jeans were completely torn apart, and.. he didn’t bother looking anymore, grabbing the wall and pressing his forehead against the doorframe when he stood up.

“What… a.. a fucking joke.” He cried, licking his lips as he walked into the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light as he grabbed a towel from the rack to wrap around his waist.

Despite not wanting to turn on the light and the darkness of the room he was still able to catch his reflection.

Skin clammy and pale, eyes tired and red, tear tracks that lead down to his neck.

“Idiot,” He hissed, turning around and storming into the bedroom, yanking things off the bed as he went, stomping through piles of trash.

His fingers found a cord running along the wall and followed it, the phone was hidden under the bed and Baekhyun was so pissed he nearly broke the cord when he yanked it out.

He sat next to a broken lamp, it was still flickering every once and in a while an entire fire hazard beside him. 

Now, Baekhyun just felt like a goddamn idiot. 

Who the _fuck_ got drugged on a simple money run? 

Certainly not him twenty four hours ago. It surely wasn’t him that was stupid enough to drink something handed to him. 

It really, really must have been a mistake.

Because Baekhyun did not - never would have made such a fucking rookie mistake.

_“What?”_

Baekhyun's face pulled together and he thought he was over feeling sorry for himself, over the ache in his spine as he pulled his knees to his chest, over the chills that ghosts over his naked arms.

Of course he wasn’t.

Not when Chanyeol's voice was feral, sounding like grinding metal and purely… pure comfort.

“Chanyeol! Ch-Chan, I-“

 _“Baekhyun!”_ Even if it was scolding Baekhyun wanted to hear it, because it was more than he had at the moment, _“Where the fuck are you? We’ve been looking for fucking hours! Baby, where the fu- I swear to god when I see you Baekhyun! I’m… fuck I’m going to handcuff you inside I swear to fuc-“_

“I… at a motel,” Baekhyun wiped his nose on his palm, looking up at the sign in the window, “Love hotel? Cha-“

 _“What the hell are you doing there?”_ The underlying jealous tone was disbelieving, nearing accusational and Baekhyun nearly laughed, almost smiled because he liked the sound so much, _“I’ll be there in like.. I’ll speed, ten minutes.”_

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun laughed under his breath humorlessly, “I need.. I.. I need some.. some clothes and I think… a doctor? No. I just.. just bring yourself. Just you.” He swallowed and wiped his hand across his cracked lips, “Just want you.” He whispered, muffled through his hand.

He didn’t hear a response right away, but didn’t hear a beeping that let him know Chanyeol hung up.

Baekhyun wasn’t completely sure Chanyeol _understood_ what he was implying, the man was usually pissed if responses weren’t clear cut and blunt.

_“Three minutes. I’ll make it in three, I’m going a hundred, Baekhyun.”_

Unrealistic, he wanted to respond.

Instead he closed his eyes and sobbed dryly into his hand, “Thank you.” 

~~~~~~

Chanyeol made it there in six. 

Three was unrealistic, and ten was way too long.

But six, six seemed just fine because Baekhyun waited by the window, had time to open it up and leaned through waiting, watching the empty parking lot and letting the wind dry his face.

Crying was not something on his to do list daily, and it wasn’t about to be starting now.

Now, he was going to focus more on the ring he found on the dresser, the only real thing he found when trying to dig for clothes.

There were no clothes and it seemed so pathetic that someone cared more about them than such an expensive piece of jewelry.

The room looked like it’d been left in a hurry though, so perhaps it was an accident.

Baekhyun didn’t care what the reason for leaving it was when he remembered it. 

And, in the end, despite the circumstances, he still fucking got what he wanted.

Baekhyun didn’t need to do much when he saw Chanyeol's car pull up, leaving tire tracks from how fast he was breaking, and when the man walked out it was a _storm._

He wasn’t even trying to be discreet nor quiet, Baekhyun leaned out of the window expecting some kind of acknowledgement from the man who had a gun in his hand, holding it like he already had an idea in mind for it.

That was stupid. If Baekhyun had woken up sooner they’d never been in this fucking mess because the person responsible would be bleeding from his fucking eye.

Chanyeol glanced at him for only a second through the window before pulling the door Baekhyun had cracked open.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun felt so incredibly relieved, walking around the bed towards the door but Chanyeol completely bypassed him, shoving things off the dresser and yanking them open.

He swallowed hard because Chanyeol didn’t look like he wanted to be messed with let alone talked to right now.

“Babe.. I-I already checked,” His eyes followed Chanyeol's back, “I.. just.. I want to go home now.” 

Chanyeol grunted a noise that let him know he heard and Baekhyun pulled the towel around him tighter as Chanyeol began to snoop around the bed. 

“No! Don’t touch tha-“

“Is this blood?” 

Baekhyun didn’t respond right away, watching Chanyeol examine the stain he had covered up.

“I said I wanted to fucking go home,” He hissed after a minute.

It seemed to be enough of an answer for Chanyeol, because he didn’t look calmed in the slightest, not at all, but he shrugged his jacket off and was finally, as Baekhyun had been waiting for, trapping him in possessive arms, covering his bare shoulders with his leather jacket and breathing angry breaths into his temple.

“Look at me.” 

Baekhyun did, eyes raw and he saw the moment Chanyeol noticed because his clenched jaw relaxed and he sighed into Baekhyun's cheek, “Are you in pain?” 

Baekhyun licked his lips and it wasn’t quite a whimper he made but it wasn’t anything happy either, hiding his face in Chanyeol's collarbone without tears, but an expression that was tearful. 

“Baby,” Chanyeol growled so loud it send shivers down his spine more than the man’s hands that were going under his knees and shoulders, “Fucking dead.” 

_Kill him_ , Baekhyun wanted to say, but it wouldn’t do anything but spur Chanyeol on into a maniacal rage, probably going to break into every room in this joint.

Not like he’d really care, but a hot shower sounded more than grand right now.

“You…” Chanyeol clicked his tongue, “... you go out of my sight for one fucking minute I’ll hunt you down. You understand me? I-I, Baekhyun, look at me and say you understand and agree.”

Normally he’d fight a little harder, mess around a bit more to push Chanyeol off the edge more.

But Chanyeol already looked like he’d voluntarily jumped off the cliff and into a pool of blood fueled rage, setting Baekhyun into the passenger seat and leaning over his lap to buckle him in.

They didn’t _usually_ bother with such trivial things.

But, then again, Chanyeol coming to pick him up in the middle of.. a love hotel wasn’t normal either.

“I understand,” He murmured quietly, “..and I agree.” 

_And I don’t ever want to leave your side again._

Chanyeol pressed a kiss to his cheekbone, one that wasn’t hesitant at all, hand shaking when he placed it on Baekhyun's jaw from pure rage.

“Baekhyun. I’m going to take care of you.” 

“There’s nothing to take care of.” Baekhyun said, pressing his cracked mouth to Chanyeol's softly, “Just want him dead.”

“Then that’s what you’ll _fucking_ get.”


	18. Prequel: Progress

“Chanyeol?” 

Baekhyun leaned back against the tub and leaned on his elbow, pressing his palm to his temple, “Need medicine.” 

He heard loud footsteps from the room over and was sure the man was doing what he asked him to and went back to laying down deeper into the water, soothing the ache beneath his skin. 

It was strange.

Not the bath or the man he was ordering around.

But his own thoughts, they were so strange.

Baekhyun recalled jumbled conversation, a name, one he quickly gave to Chanyeol and the ring.

But that wasn’t exactly something he was having an odd time grasping.

More so it was the sudden _change_ he felt. 

In their lifetimes they weren’t going to do good things. They weren’t going to be those people that saved others from burning buildings or helped old people cross the street, pulled over on the side of the road to help car crash victims. 

They were more likely to be the ones that lit buildings up, caused deaths, purposely drove a hundred miles over the speed limit and caused cars to collide.

But, Baekhyun realized that maybe in a sick, distorted way it was best this way.

That them and normal people weren't ever going to be the same and they shouldn’t concern themselves with such normal fears - right? 

Scared of not passing a class.

Scared of forgetting to pay car registration.

Scared of social situations.

Scared of getting close.

Scared of death.

Baekhyun had always been under the impression that death was scary, that getting close was scary.

Because he could lose more people.

But now it seemed ridiculous. It seemed childish.

They weren’t good people - or average for that matter - so he shouldn’t expect them to be the same.

Time was limited for them. Time would change them, hurt them, kill them.

He laughed under his breath, wondering what exactly he’d die from. 

Maybe a stray bullet. A knife? In prison? In action, stealing?

Perhaps even for no reason at all, just a man walking down the street, head beaten in for no _fucking_ reason.

That was fine. Really.

But given their circumstances and limited time - the way Chanyeol ticked like a time bomb was only lessening their time together. 

Baekhyun had some things to evaluate.

One, he didn’t give a fuck about the rape. 

He cared more about how badly his muscles hurt and the disgust than the actual event. It could have been so much worse.

Two, he was tired of playing easy, of going for wallets and jewelry. He wanted something grander - why not? They were dying young anyways.

And finally, he really, completely wanted to spend whatever ticking time he had left with Chanyeol.

Even if the man was killed before him, which was likely because Chanyeol was more instinct than anything, he had already broken his car window the moment Baekhyun was out of it and waiting to be carried inside.

Chanyeol shrugged it off, and Baekhyun did too, pressing lips to his pulse when he was carried into the house. 

“Here. Yixing said not too many because you might get nauseous if you still have drugs in your system.” 

Baekhyun accepted the pills instantly, leaning over the side of the tub to grab his cup of water that he had already had refilled three times.

“You need help?” 

Baekhyun smiled, soaking wet hand moving to grab the edge of Chanyeol's shirt and tugging, “Always need your help.” 

Chanyeol grinned, somewhat strained as he dropped to his knees and pet the wet mess of hair from Baekhyun's face, “You nearly done? Been in here a long time.” 

“Just relaxing,” Baekhyun murmured, cupping Chanyeol's cheek and wetting his skin, scraping his nails over the sharp edge of his jaw, “Handsome, babe.” 

“What’s gotten into you?” Chanyeol licked his lips and dipped his arm into the water to cover the blindingly dark bruise on Baekhyun's hip like he didn’t want to see it at all, “Sweet on me suddenly?” 

“Yeah.” 

Chanyeol snorted, leaning into Baekhyun's hand as the smaller wrapped his hand around the back of his neck.

Baekhyun watched for a while, watched Chanyeol breathe heavily through his nose, watched him turn on the water only to add more hot water when he deemed it too cold for Baekhyun to be sitting in.

His calloused and scarred hands ran over the inside of his thigh - he didn’t ask, but Baekhyun knew Chanyeol was just making sure there was no more blood.

“Should get out before you get sick.” 

Baekhyun hummed, sitting up in the water and causing it to shift, threatening to spill over the sides of the tub.

Chanyeol didn’t even move back, didn’t scold him for it at all, just reached behind himself and grabbed a towel, looking at Baekhyun with a raised brow.

Chanyeol was so in love with him, and it was painfully obvious.

It always had been.

And Baekhyun, well, he was irrevocably and completely in love with Chanyeol.

“Hey, Yeol?”

Chanyeol’s hand wrapped around his wrist to balance him as Baekhyun's legs felt like jelly both from sitting so long and from what he assumed roofies.

“We’re dating now.” 

“Weren’t we.. kind of always?”

Baekhyun laughed wet arms wrapping around Chanyeol's neck when the man scooped him up, “No. I mean.. like you can call me your boyfriend now. We aren’t just… we’re… feeling.” 

“Always felt for you, Baekhyun.” 

That made him swallow guiltily because he always knew that.

But, Chanyeol didn’t seem put off or anything at all, content with the way his shoulders relaxed a little and he smiled to himself as he laid Baekhyun down in bed.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun mumbled, cupping the back of his head and arching his chest into Chanyeol's.

He knew he likely looked promiscuous, more than he meant to, because Chanyeol's eyes flickered warningly, and he knew even if he begged Chanyeol wouldn’t touch him at all - that was okay, for now, he wasn’t asking for that.

His body was much too sore for that.

“Look at me. Now.” Baekhyun ordered, mostly because he liked the tick in Chanyeol's brow that he had when he got told what to do, annoyed, but he always let Baekhyun get away with it. “Love you.” 

All at once Chanyeol's annoyed, almost irritated expression dropped, eyes flickering back and forth before he yanked himself back, out of Baekhyun's grip and ran an anxious, damp hand through his hair. “You’re fucking kidding. Right?” 

Baekhyun laughed under his breath at his needless aggression.

“Now, Baekhyun?” He yelled, “You fucking psycho! You do this to me now!”

Baekhyun burst into laughter, throwing himself back into the firm mattress, it reminded him that he really wanted a softer one, something that he sank into.

Actually, just the entire house in general.

He wanted a new one. “Chanyeol. I want a mansion. Nothing but marble floors. You hear me?” 

“You fuckin- goddamn it!”

Baekhyun laughed louder when he felt hands grab his ankles, pulling him towards the end more and was greeted with an intensely pissed off expression as Chanyeol yanked him to sit up, cupping the back of his head and shoulders.

He laughed in the man’s face, playfully mimicking his look of pure fury, one that said Chanyeol was going to cause chaos.

“You listening to me, troublemaker?” Baekhyun hissed, snapping his teeth at Chanyeol's lip, “Said I want a fucking _mansion._ ”

Chanyeol growled, hand tightening on the back of his neck, “No.”

“No?” Baekhyun dared, unable to hide the upturn of his lip, “You won’t give me what I want, babe?”

“Can’t stand you right now,” Chanyeol snarled, kissing the side of his cheek, “Get you a fucking castle if you want it. But, fuck. You choose to do this to me now? I’m only angrier. Someone just _touched_ what’s mine and you - you’re such a demon, you know that?” 

“Your demon.”

“That’s right.” Chanyeol sighed, scratching his nails through the hair at the nape of his neck, “Gonna make sure we get far. We’re going to be _famous,_ Baekhyun. Who the fuck cares about Bonnie and Clyde? Me and you, us and the gang - we’re going to be fucking famous.” 

Baekhyun's eyes gleamed, nails digging so hard into Chanyeol's shoulder it was nearly worrying, “You gonna fuck up the world for me? Tell me, crazy, you going to unleash your rage? Make a grand entrance? No more running with clothes and jewelry. Let’s walk into a bank and blow it up. Unafraid. Make people shake when they see us… lust after us.” 

Chanyeol’s breathing as heavy and it was such a shame Baekhyun wasn’t in the position to have sex right now, because he loved when the man was this mad, this visionary and imaginative.

His eyes looked akin to a lion’s, the king of the jungle.

“Lust after you?” Chanyeol tsked, hand moving down his spine and massaging softly over his lower back despite his other hand tight around his neck, “Oh, baby fox, people already do. But that hardly matters, right? Because you’re mine. And I fucking love you. God. Worship you, own you.” 

Baekhyun beamed, licking his teeth and wrapping his arms around Chanyeol's neck, squeezing and sitting up so their bodies were flushed together, “So mad I’ve been tricked? Me too. I’m so mad, Chanyeol… and you know what?”

“What.” He growled.

“... just mad I don’t feel _you_ right now.” 

It was exactly what Chanyeol wanted to hear, Baekhyun smiled to himself, pressing his lips to the man’s ear, “Better start searching. By the time you get to him… he’ll be shaking, babe. Quaking. Begging for forgiveness, offering you jewels in exchange for his life. Covered in his own blood, missing limbs. And you know what you’re going to say?”

Baekhyun paused only to nip at the shell of Chanyeol's ear, purposely breathing louder, “You're going to say, ‘that’s _my_ baby that you drugged, that was _my_ property. And… you really, really hurt his feelings.’ Then, you’re going to make it really painful. So painful I’ll be proud of you, give you all my love, my attention.”

“I already have that.” Chanyeol's voice was rough, hardness was pressing into Baekhyun's thigh but soothing his hand down his spine, over his bruises possessively.

“You do,” Baekhyun agreed, sitting back to smile against Chanyeol's mouth, “Impress me, trouble.” 

Chanyeol licked at his teeth before he even finished the demand.


	19. Prequel: Choice

“Nothing?” 

Baekhyun rolled onto his side cheek resting in Luhans lap as he watched the gang talk around a laptop, room only lit by the blue light.

“Let me try. I’m better with computers than you.” Kris demanded, yanking the device from Junmyeons lap.

“Don’t get cocky just because your mommy runs credit card fraud.” Jongin laughed, lying on his back and throwing a candy bar up in the air and catching it.

Baekhyun giggled at that.

“Watch it,” Junmyeon growled at the younger, snatching the candy from the air and tossing it into Tao’s lap who grinned winningly.

“At least he has a mom still.” Jongdae teased, kicking Jongin's side.

The group burst into laughter, Jongin rolled his eyes and chuckled loudly. “You fucker.” 

“Hey. Look.” Kris commented suddenly, looking around the room, “Chanyeol, look man.” 

Baekhyun felt the man run a hand over his leg softly before moving them off his lap, scratching his bare chest as he walked over to them.

His boyfriend was so… angry lately.

Not even the type of angry that was visible, if anything he looked more like he had calmed down than anything, but the type of angry that made you afraid at any moment he’d snap.

Before, it was easy to tell when Chanyeol was going to lose his mind, it was made obvious by his expressions, by his breathing.

Now, not so much. 

He was more like an animal, going on about his days without much signs of aggression, and then he’d just snap, teeth bared.

Baekhyun thought it was incredibly sexy, had watched him promptly and randomly start a fist fight a few blocks away truthfully without reason - well, leering at Baekhyun seemed reason enough.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” He heard Chanyeol scoff, dropping the computer all the way to the ground and the screen shattered.

Almost instantly the others backed up, Baekhyun snorted at that because they were so paranoid when Chanyeol was mad.

He didn’t think it was all that concerning at all.

But, then again, it was his initials lined in red behind Chanyeol's ear.

“Fuck.” 

And, this wasn’t anger, they all just assumed it was because Chanyeol was stomping on the screen and they had only _just_ stolen that.

Whatever, Baekhyun was not all that concerned or annoyed because it hadn’t been his hard work being ruined.

“You just going to let him?” 

Baekhyun hummed, sending Luhan a raised brow. “What?”

“Let him start a fight.” Luhan elaborated, patting his cheek, “You should stop him.” 

“Oh, he’s not mad,” Baekhyun shrugged, sitting up on the couch and licking his lips, eyeing Chanyeol's back, “He’s upset.” 

“He looks really pissed to me.” 

Baekhyun just shrugged again, because they didn’t know Chanyeol as well as he did, despite knowing him much longer.

But, over the past year he had more than enough time to understand him. And his sudden change didn’t really throw Baekhyun for a spin at all.

He still did the same things, still showed the same little things he always did.

Chanyeol upset was only slightly different than anger, instead of his head twitching or even hands clenching it was more of an odd finger tapping movement, or anxious ones, jerky rather than smooth.

“Babe,” Baekhyun sighed and stood up, fixing his shorts and shirt, “Chanyeol. You want to share with the crowd?” 

“Hey, don’t get close,” Sehun locked a hand around his wrist and Baekhyun cackled, rolling his eyes. “Seriously. Last time he gave you a bruise.”

Baekhyun snickered because that wasn’t really where that bruise came from at all, the bruise on his shoulder was because he had gotten carried away in bed - not from Chanyeol being mad.

He’d never gotten a bruise that wasn’t carried out with sweet intentions or placed precisely.

“That, baby,” Baekhyun cooed, yanking his arm away, “Was a sex bruise. Don’t assume Chanyeol would do such a thing,” He added, patting Sehun's hair.

It was a bit annoying that they assumed the worst.

Sure, they argued in screams, but that was _always_ Baekhyun yelling, usually over something spoiled and stuck up too. 

He sometimes had marks, bruises, but as mentioned they were completely intentional or his own fault.

Chanyeol would get them too, Baekhyun had even bit into his shoulder so hard before it drew blood.

To think Baekhyun would ever put up with abuse was unimaginable and completely stupid.

He was entitled to nothing but the best - and Chanyeol was. 

Soft when needed, but rough and angry mostly, just how Baekhyun loved him.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun barked because he hated to be ignored, arms wrapping around the man’s bare waist and nuzzling into his ribs, “What's going on in that crazy mind?” 

“Baekhyun.” He heard Minseok warn.

So annoying, he mused.

“Babe-“

Chanyeol pulled Baekhyun into his chest, smoothing his shirt down as he knelt down a little, “Going to be a long time, baby,” He murmured, fingers running all over the skin of his neck and chest.

Baekhyun only knew him to touch him so frantically when extremely upset and frowned, petting his bangs from his eyes. 

“He’s… leader of The Eagles, towards the west side.. I don’t know much, I just know that.. my parents avoided them, they must be.. big, powerful - but that’s not going to matter. Okay? Going to kill him one day, alright? Not.. now, not.. soon, but I will. Promise.” 

He truthfully wasn’t expecting Chanyeol to try and go after the man anytime soon, it’d only been a week since the incident anyways. 

But, he could tell it was killing Chanyeol. That even just this week without his blood on his hands was horrible. 

“Then you know what we have to do then, right?” Baekhyun cooed, grabbing his chin between his fingers, “You said it yourself, babe. Gotta get big. Right now.. we’re nothing, nobodies.” 

He saw Chanyeol use his tongue and prod the inside of his cheek, obviously angry at the words. 

But they were true.

They were nothing but petty thieves, nobodies that had a few felonies on their hands, and despite how badly Chanyeol wanted to, looked like he needed to - he hadn’t killed anyone to Baekhyun's knowledge.

Not yet.

Possibly he had, but not seen it. Beaten someone and left them in alleys, in buildings, maybe they had died.

But not by their hands, not.. in front of them.

He’d seen some crazy shit, seen Chanyeol stab someone before for trailing them, but when they left the man was still bleeding, still _alive_.

Seen - and had himself - beaten someone so bloody they coughed blood.

But still, it didn't count if they didn’t know they were alive.

Right now they could go into towns and not be recognized, could always walk by police even though currently Kyungsoo had a warrant for his arrest - spotted selling drugs - it was easy now.

“Gotta get famous, trouble,” Baekhyun smiled sweetly, “Start planning. Gotta make me proud, babe.”

~~~~~~

They went to celebrate.

Agreeing that they’d rather go out big - if they were all already so far into this life of theft than they might as well go all out.

The past year it was odd, but he’d never seen his gang members really.. let loose.

It was weird not to have their attention on him, not to have their lingering gaze and attempts to flirt.

Usually all of that was more so Jongin than anything, but the man had a killer smirk, an even better seductive expression, and a dancer's body.

Baekhyun couldn't lie and say he hadn’t appreciated his friends. They all practically lived together, he’d seen them all naked, or at least mostly undressed.

But, it was still weird to see them dancing and flirting with other people - he wasn’t jealous at all, but felt an almost irritated feeling purely because he still felt entitled to attention. Used to it.

He had to give them props though, they were doing well. He’d even seen Yixing use his dimpled smile as he walked out of the club a while ago.

Baekhyun laughed at the thought because it was ridiculous how quickly the man could go from sweet to smirking.

All of them were a bit ridiculous though.

“Hey, you’re not going to dance?” Baekhyun walked over to the bar, leaning over and waiting for the busy bartender to notice him.

Sehun shrugged, an empty glass sitting on the bar and a half drank one in his hand, “Not really feeling it.” 

Baekhyun raised a brow, taking a seat on the stool and spinning it to face Sehun's profile, narrowing his eyes, “Well you should at least try and find someone for the night. Kris is already practically having sex out there and Xing left a bit ago with some girl.” 

“Nah. I’m not really… used to come here a lot, I think I’ve had enough random hookups for a lifetime.” 

Baekhyun giggled, “Really? I used to come here too, mostly because it’s easier to pickpocket. Wonder if I ever stole anything from you.” He joked, playfully reaching for his jacket pocket.

Sehun snorted, not even phased by his playful sticky fingers. “Trust me. If I ever saw you here, you’d have gone home with me; I’d never let you slide past.” 

Baekhyun's smile dropped and he sighed, leaning his elbow on the bar and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Funny, huh? Would you have let me, Baek? Over a year ago. In this bar - would you have let me take you with me? If we had met first, would things be different, Bambi?” 

Things could have. Maybe they would have.

Sehun was… he was his type. Truthfully any of the members were his type. 

They were attractive and hilarious, shared a lot of common interests and morals.

Sehun was definitely attractive, Baekhyun saw first hand the man hold someone down with his foot on their chest, wipe blood from his brow like it didn’t hurt at all, spit insults like they were polite.

Sexy, and definitely Baekhyun's _type_.

But, he wasn’t enough. Not after knowing Chanyeol.

His eyes weren’t swimming with danger, only greed, they didn’t send worrying chills down Baekhyun's spine or make him both want to hide and get closer.

Sehun was gentle, too gentle. 

Even when he yanked him around, pulled him by his jacket to tuck him under his arm, even when they were running away if they got caught stealing he made sure to wait for Baekhyun to catch up, grabbing his hand and pushing him ahead of him.

He just wasn’t _Chanyeol_.

He didn’t just do what he liked, say what he liked to Baekhyun. 

When they had to run he didn’t throw Baekhyun over his shoulder and ignore his demands to be set down like Chanyeol did.

They were both sweet tactics. Actions.

But one appealed to him a lot more, one of the men just… had him.

It wasn’t Sehun.

“Let me tell you something. And I don’t want you to get mad, okay?” 

Chanyeol wouldn’t have even asked, he’d just said it and dealt with the consequences.

Baekhyun nodded reluctantly.

Sehun chewed the inside of his cheek before pointing out in front of them, pointing at Chanyeol who stood tall, long legs covered in ripped jeans, his vertically striped top that hung so loose his chest was exposed.

It matched Baekhyun's burgundy one, that was tucked into black skin tight jeans, a tight choker glittering around his neck. 

Chanyeol looked absolutely sinful all the time, even just laughing and talking to the side of where people danced, looking down at Jongdae, reminding Baekhyun how huge his man was.

“Baekhyun. He’s going to get you killed, he’s unstable. One day… he’s just… going to lose it, and I don’t want it to be on you - okay? We.. we worry about you two. Don’t get me wrong, we all owe Chanyeol a hell of a lot, so much, but that doesn’t… doesn't excuse that he’s uncontrollable.” 

Baekhyun eyebrows pulled together, crossing his arms over his lap, “Do you say the same things about me when I’m not around? Hm? Who’s idea was it to steal a car? Who’s idea is it to plan bank robberies? Not Chanyeol's. Mine. So, tell me again that Chanyeol's what… an unclipped grenade? If _anyone_ is, it’s me, and you fucking know it.”

It was overly defensive, but completely true, and Baekhyun could have said things much worse, could have blatantly argued that Sehun just wanted him - that he was jealous of Chanyeol.

But he didn’t, because he did care about Sehun.

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Sehun sounded angry now, like Baekhyun wasn’t understanding at all, “I’m saying.. it’s not _right_. You never know when it’s going to be you beaten, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol can fucking.. he hits hard, baby, you know - I know. That shit wouldn’t be funny anymore when we have to patch you up because of him. It’s no-“

“Shut the fuck up.” Baekhyun growled, “You act like you know him, but you don’t, not at all. I _tell_ Chanyeol what to do half the time, he listens to me. When we argue it’s usually over _me_ being reckless. Over me getting caught, trying to take easy ways out, we don’t _fight_! You’re mistaking our lust for anger- it’s a hundred percent not! Chanyeol is just as bad for me as you are - as I am for myself! What… you.. you want to blame him too for me being assaulted? Because in that case it’s just as much-“

“Fucking-“ Sehun grabbed his wrist, stilling his angry pointing, “- Shut up! We aren’t blaming him for that, or you, nobody! Okay? You always… can’t you just not try to manipulate people for one second and just… feel? Or are you just so used to it now? Sometimes I…”

“What?” Baekhyun hissed, pulling his arm away, “You’ve already come this far. Get on with it.” 

“Just.. I sometimes wish you’d love me, okay? He can’t feel love, but I can - I can, Baekhyun. You can.” 

Baekhyun breathed heavily through his nose.

It should be obvious by now. It was so obvious.

Chanyeol was obsessed, definitely, possessive, a hundred percent.

But he also _loved_ him. 

Why else would the man be so adamant for him the past year? He already had his body, they already had enough sex, there was nothing else Chanyeol could have wanted from him if he didn’t _feel_ for him. 

Baekhyun had already been his, Chanyeol knew that they were already sleeping together and only with each other. 

“Sex doesn’t mean love, Baekhyun. I’m talking about actual feelings.” 

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, eyeing Chanyeol's back.

Chanyeol liked to own things.

He liked to hoard money and hide expensive things all over. Baekhyun considered himself pretty expensive too, worth a lot.

Chanyeol seemed to recognize his worth, he was always good at that.

Maybe Baekhyun was seen that way too - like an item. Chanyeol admitted as much, called him his, dressed him up and down, gifted him things like they were promises.

Chanyeol knew Baekhyun liked sex - they both did - relied on the closeness often. But, for Baekhyun, that’s how he had begun to really.. feel for Chanyeol.

Of course they had been friends, he had cared and been invested in his safety.

But ever since the first time Baekhyun just.. was pulled in, sucked into the wild swirl of his eyes and words that were disturbing but he made sound so sweet.

_Was it possible Chanyeol didn’t feel anything at all?_

Could it just be possession?

Baekhyun thought about it, but scoffed.

Because there was now reason a man like Chanyeol _needed_ him unless it was because he wanted him. 

Chanyeol didn’t need a thief when he had a gun, he didn’t need someone to seduce and steal. Someone to boost his already huge ego.

Chanyeol didn’t need to show Baekhyun that he was weak and whisper vulnerabilities in his ear, tattoo things Baekhyun liked on his skin, blurting his love for him randomly.

There was no reason for that. Not from Chanyeol, a man so powerful all on his own.

“Oh, fuck you.” Baekhyun cried, jumping to his feet.

He felt Sehun staring at him, maybe in fear as he walked up to Chanyeol.

Baekhyun yanked his shirt and Chanyeol turned to look at him mid laugh, eyes brighter than before, fonder, “There’s my demon.” 

Chanyeol loved him and he could see it in his eyes, hear it in his tone and feel it in the arm wrapping around his waist.

“What kind of trouble are you getting into, ba-“

Baekhyun yanked the back of Chanyeol's neck down to his leave and stuck his tongue right into his mouth, lips slick and loudly smacking against his.

Chanyeol’s hands were instantly on his skin, Baekhyun's leg lifted to curl around the back of his thigh and Chanyeol cupped his leg to hold it there, other hand sliding under the back of his shirt and groaning into his mouth.

He pulled away the smallest bit to eye the string of saliva between them, licking it from his mouth.

“What a nice gift, gorgeous,” Chanyeol murmured praisingly, releasing his leg only to move his hand over his ass, possessively palming over his jeans, “Been waiting for you to come back, baby fox.” 

Baekhyun knew his mouth was swollen, knew they were bright red and slick - because Chanyeol wouldn’t have let him get away with a short make out session unless he looked ruined.

He smiled and wrapped his arms tighter around Chanyeol's shoulders, laying his cheek against his chest and looking to his left.

Sehun was still staring.

Good.

“Chanyeol?” 

The man hummed, mouth brushing against his ear.

If Chanyeol didn’t love him, then why would the man hug him so tight, look so vulnerable showing off his weakness for anyone to see. 

“Take me to bed.” 

Chanyeol grinned into his temple, kissing beneath his ear, “Fuck. Love you so much, sexy.” 

“I know.”


	20. Prequel: Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: ...murder, they’re crazy, really

The plan was supposed to go like this: enter, flirt, distract, and leave.

Of course things didn't _always_ go how they wanted them to. 

See, Chanyeol had overheard some people talking.

Truthfully, Baekhyun wasn’t even a hundred percent sure where Chanyeol got his information because other gangs refused to even meet with them - they weren’t “important” enough to meet.

Ridiculous because they had so much income coming in from small crime - robbing gas stations, people, drug sales.

Baekhyun had begged Chanyeol a million times to take him to other areas, that he’d convince them to see them as strong.

But of course his boyfriend had huge issues with that, with allowing Baekhyun to go off into other gangs and _suggestively_ requesting they give them chances to merge, to form alliances.

He knew Baekhyun too well, and was definitely not going to allow something like that to happen.

So tonight they were on their own.

And Baekhyun felt he looked pretty good for being somewhere so fancy, so full of rich people. 

Well, the looks he was getting said as much.

They were at an art gala, a celebration that was supposed to be invitation only which meant “elite only” basically.

They were just downstairs to try and do what they could, make sure nobody would hear or notice that their gang was sneaking upstairs, away from the ball-like area downstairs.

Baekhyun thought it was fun, felt really fancy.

“Got a looker, seven o’ clock.” 

Baekhyun laughed under his breath when Yixing spun him under his arm, a palm splayed across his back, “Should I go say hello?”

Yixing grinned, “You are the best at distracting, but let’s keep our eyes on the stairs, not on old perverts.” 

“Who’s going up now?”

“Kyungsoo. Has that winning smile on his face. Confident, but creepily so. Why do I always get assigned to work with him?” 

Baekhyun snickered under his breath, “Well. You’re with me now, sugar.” 

“That I am,” Yixing beamed, squeezing Baekhyun's fingers as they swayed, “How much longer do you think-“

“Mind if I take your place?”

Baekhyun thought the woman was talking to him for a second, releasing Yixing's hands and taking a small step back.

“Oh. Of course,” Yixing answered before he could and Baekhyun's brows furrowed, but he played it off quickly, replacing the confusion with a smile, “I’ll just wait for you by the drinks, my love.”

Baekhyun nearly rolled his eyes, turning to smile at the woman politely when she put her hand out.

He accepted with a puffed chest, hoping his stiff hand on her waist wasn’t too obvious because he usually didn’t dance with women all that much, usually they weren’t their first choice in victims to manipulate.

But, he could work with this.

“So, handsome. What’s your name?” 

“Hyun,” He lied, “And you?”

“Me?” She laughed, “Why this is my home you’re at, sweetheart, surely you’d know.”

Baekhyun tilted his head, looking her over.

It was a little harder to read people when they were all dressed similarly as elite people tended to, they all had the same diamond earrings, necklaces, sparkling gowns.

A bit annoying if you asked him.

She was an older woman, probably nearly double his age, but he could see that the reason she had chosen him wasn’t nearly innocent enough.

 _Fine_ , he’d pretend.

“Can a man not joke with a pretty woman?” He smiled, “Maybe I’ve been waiting for your company all night.” 

She liked that a lot, Baekhyun nearly chuckled, pulling her waist closer to him and attempting to replicate Yixing moments before.

A stronger grip than he’d normally use, more touching around her hands and looking more down at her than directly at her.

Chanyeol had taught him well, but he knew if Chanyeol wasn’t upstairs he’d be doing a much better job with this woman.

“Handsome and funny it seems,” She cooed, batting her lashes and moving her hand from his only to rest it on his shoulder instead.

Baekhyun really should have listened more when Minseok had explained the details of the art, of the party in the car ride here, but he had been more focused on gazing out the window and purposely ignoring.

He’d be doing a much better job had he listened.

“Truthfully,” Baekhyun drawled, “I’ll be honest and tell you I missed the showing earlier in the day. But I was told the art was wonderful, I just had to come and see if they were being displayed tonight, but I was quite disappointed they weren’t out any longer.” 

His lip perked up in amusement at his own words when he knew at the moment his gang was cycling the paintings now, tying them up and throwing them out the window for them to pack up.

Security wasn’t an issue here, but Baekhyun kind of wished it had been as they’d need the practice.

How could he really complain when they were robbing thousands of dollars worth of paintings right now?

“What a shame!” She gawked, “They are magnificent paintings!”

 _Expensive paintings_ , Baekhyun mused.

“Perhaps.. if you don’t mind missing the party, we could give them a peek?” 

Her words were laced with an underlying tone, one Baekhyun was familiar with because _he_ did it to Chanyeol all the fucking time.

Funny.

“Sounds amazing,” He purred, releasing her waist and offering his hand, “I’d be extremely appreciative if you did.” 

Dumb bitch.

She grinned, a light smirk on her face as she grabbed his hand, Baekhyun ignored her annoying excitement and nodded his head at Yixing when he walked by, a simple but stiff one. _Leave_.

At least Yixing looked to listen, setting his drink down and walking towards the exit presumably to meet up with the others.

Baekhyun smiled, allowing her to rant into his shoulder, ignoring her thin arm that wrapped around his, pulling him up the stairs and into a long hallway.

He hadn’t been up here yet, but knew the others had snooped and found the storage room instantly.

And that was where she was going.

“Oh! It looks like one of my maids must have forgotten to clean the floors down this hall,” she pulled Baekhyun's arm, motioning to the wet footprints on the ground, “Please ignore them. The gallery is just through here.”

She obviously must have been an idiot as those were fresh, wet footprints, but he hummed. “Oh? What a shame I was beginning to think you were leading me somewhere more… private, a bedroom perhaps?” He mused, raising a brow.

She blushed up at him, and Baekhyun felt he must have been doing well. “Perhaps… after?” She added.

“Definitely,” Baekhyun lied with a huge flirtatious smile, “Let’s see these paintings, shall we?”

Baekhyun licked his lips as she opened the door, standing behind her to block the doorway.

As soon as she opened the door he could hear talking and grinned through his hair.

“- no, last one, get it to the van.” 

He felt her let out a quiet gasp and burst with a laugh, pushing her into the room and quickly shutting the door.

“Welcome! Welcome!” Baekhyun began, smiling, “Look guys! I brought something much more expensive, the owner!” He cried.

The room was empty except for Tao sitting on the window, frozen with a painting covered in cloth hanging outside.

But, in the corner sat Chanyeol, legs crossed and holding a bottle of alcohol that was probably worth what their safe house was. “Welcome, baby doll. See you’ve brought company, it’s not ideal but…” He smirked anyways, shaking the bottle, “... got you a gift, pretty boy.” 

Baekhyun smirked and went to open his mouth to respond when the woman started to scream and he jumped, instantly grabbing her mouth to shut her up. “Shut up!” He barked, “You old bitch, you have plenty of money to share! Shut it!”

“Now. Now,” Chanyeol tsked, standing up and straightening out his suit jacket, “That’s a bit harsh, Baekhyun, don’t you think?” 

Baekhyun's eyes glittered, “You slipped up, babe.” He pointed out, “I mean, you slipped up, _Chanyeol_.” 

His boyfriend's mouth pulled up in amusement and Baekhyun was fully aware this wasn’t a slip up at all, not even the slightest. 

_Finally._

“You know, Chan,” Baekhyun giggled and shoved the woman out of his grip - it truly didn’t matter if she tried to scream or not because the party downstairs was _loud_ and this mansion was a maze. 

Plus, she looked more likely to piss herself with her hyperventilating anyway.

“She wanted me to sleep with her, did you know? Tell her how good I am, crazy.” 

He stepped over her, dress shoes sounding loud on the tile floors and looking at the window for a second, but Tao was already probably going to put the last painting in the van, the rope hanging out the window just waiting for him and Chanyeol.

Chanyeol grinned, accepting Baekhyun into the crook of his arm and pressing the bottle of alcohol to his chest, “How amazing when anyone can see you prefer something a woman can’t give, hm?” 

Baekhyun grinned, laughing and licking over his teeth as he pressed his face into Chanyeol's chest, “Just you, babe.” 

“That’s right,” Chanyeol turned him so his back was towards the woman, he could hear her heavy breathing though, breathless sobs. 

It must be so scary for her. 

Baekhyun couldn't relate.

“You’ve done so well, just wait until we get home, gorgeous.” 

Baekhyun loved praise, releasing an excited noise as if the promise for sex was something he didn’t get multiple times a week, it just never got old to show physical love. 

“Handsome,” Baekhyun kissed his collarbone, running his lips against his neck, “Just wait-“

Baekhyun was cut off with the sound of a bullet hitting wood and gasped, but felt a rush of adrenaline fill his veins when Chanyeol released him with an irritated noise.

“Couldn’t you _wait!_ ” He yelled, “My baby was talking!” 

Baekhyun looked at the damage and saw that a bullet had been sent through the door and Chanyeol's gun was still smoking, almost like a physical representation of the rage the man had.

“She knows our names, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun cooed, moving to wrap his arms around the man's waist, “To live or not? To be on the news or not? Think you could handle being all over the news right now, babe? Not a lot of… _Park Chanyeol’s_ in town _.”_

Chanyeol had no choice at all now, but it wasn’t like the man was going to let her go at all in the first place.

Baekhyun had known it was time months ago.

“Plea-“

“What a good joke, baby boy!” Chanyeol chuckled, sparing a glance at Baekhyun over his shoulder, “You got me.” 

Baekhyun smirked, pressing a kiss on Chanyeol’s shoulder and watching him turn back to the woman, pulling back the hammer with a click before pulling the trigger.

He always wondered if he’d feel bad killing a person.

If Chanyeol would show anything at all.

But he didn’t expect it to be like this - to feel completely… normal, like there wasn’t a body bleeding out on the floor.

“I got you,” Baekhyun mused, tossing the alcohol in his hand to the side and shattering the bottle.

Chanyeol snickered and Baekhyun chewed on his lip as he watched the man walk over to a dresser, “What are you doing, babe?” 

He heard Chanyeol make an acknowledging noise and watched him grab a pen off the top and walk towards the door, stepping over the woman’s body, “Well. We need to take credit for this, right?” 

“Right,” Baekhyun whispered, the corner of his lip turning up, watching Chanyeol scribble something that was blocked by the man's shoulders. 

His boyfriend turned back to him less than a second later and Baekhyun grinned, “You have some…” His finger came to Chanyeol’s hairline and wiped his thumb across a small dot of red blood, “.. red looks good on you.” 

“Yeah?” Chanyeol breathed against his lips. 

“Yeah.” 

”I’ll change my hair however you want it, baby fox.”

Baekhyun giggled and squealed when Chanyeol picked his hips up and started walking him towards the window, and just over his shoulder he could see in black marker.

Simple, plain. 

Completely odd, but they were too.

**XO**

Baekhyun laughed and grabbed Chanyeol’s collar when the man hovered him near the window.

“Better grab that rope, baby!” Chanyeol yelled, “Gonna let go!” Threateningly dangling the smaller towards the good three story drop out the window.

“You _fucking_ liar!” 

Chanyeol grinned and bit into Baekhyun’s shoulder roughly.

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: Gigi_B56 - Come see sneak peeks of stories!
> 
> https://curiouscat.qa/Gigi_B56 - Ask me questions!


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